It Started With a Tomato
by melodic.keys
Summary: When Konoko bumped into Sasuke at the tomato stand, she never would have predicted that it would turn out like this. Civilian OC. Post-war AU.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone! After years of stalking this site, I finally decided to try my hand at writing my own fanfiction!

Warning: I mainly enjoy writing as a hobby and lead a pretty busy life so I don't know how often I will have a chance to update.

Enjoy! :)

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Anything directly related to the Naruto manga/anime (all characters, backstories, settings, etc.) belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

 **It Started With a Tomato**

 **Chapter One**

Konoko peered up at the raven haired man standing in front her impassively.

"No."

His dark eyes blinked once in bewilderment.

A few seconds passed.

"….what?"

Konoko gave an exhausted sigh to show her impatience at his apparent lack of comprehension skills.

"I said no, Sasuke."

A slight gust of wind rustled both of their clothes.

"…why?"

Konoko frowned in disapproval.

She had been sitting outside on her back porch enjoying the breeze that had brought relief to the harsh summer months in Konoha. Konoko had gotten home from work and decided to have some good old relaxation time. So she had curled up in a slightly worn brown chair, book in hand, with her long dark curly hair tossed over her tan sleeveless left shoulder. She had just gotten a new adventure novel from the library a few days prior and was quickly immersed in the captivating plot when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Sasuke standing with his hands in his pants pockets, just outside of her white gate.

Glancing up from her novel, she took note of his ruffled appearance and assumed that he had just finished training with his team. His dark hair was messier than usual and his gray high collared shirt and black shinobi pants had some tears and stains here and there.

'It must have been some training session if he's coming here looking like this,' she thought as she looked him over.

Realizing that he was probably waiting for an invitation, Konoko decided not to keep him waiting there all day. After all, he _did_ tend to be impatient at times. Konoko gave him a slight wave of her hand in acknowledgement and went back to looking at her book.

She heard the gate open and shut close. A few seconds later, she could feel his presence in front of her. It didn't take much time to cross her small backyard.

"Konoko."

Hearing his deep voice speak her name in greeting, Konoko shut her novel (not before marking the page with a blue ribbon that had been wrapped around her right wrist) and looked up at the ninja, giving him her undivided attention. Her light brown eyes landed on his onyx ones, and she gave him a pleasant smile.

"Hi, Sasuke. I haven't seen you around in a few days, so I assumed that you had gone on a mission. How did it go?"

Konoko knew that Sasuke wouldn't be able disclose much of his mission to her if it was confidential (and it usually _was_ ), but she still liked to ask. It was a comfortable routine that they had settled into ever since they became friends.

Well, _friends_ may have not been right word to describe their relationship—which was a little strange. In all honesty, she doubted that Sasuke even saw her as anything more than an acquaintance. Yes—they had conversations with each other on more than one occasion. And yes—they didn't use honorifics to address each other (but Konoko suspected that Sasuke just couldn't be bothered). However, most of their time spent with each other was when she would watch him train, which was usually spent with him in relative silence and rarely initiating any conversation. She didn't really know a lot about him on a personal basis and neither did he in regards to her.

Well, he probably did know more about her than she thought, being a ninja and all. They were all sneaky bastards in Konoko's eyes.

"Ah," he confirmed with a slight nod of his head. "It was a mission to the Land of Hot Water."

Konoko made a small sound to express her interest. "Did the rest of your team go with you as well?"

Although she didn't know that many personal things about Sasuke, Konoko knew about Team Seven. _Everyone_ in the village—shinobi and civilians alike—knew about the famous team that had helped the Shinobi Alliance win the Fourth Great Ninja War nearly three years ago.

So yes—this meant that she knew all about how Sasuke defected from the Leaf Village to join Orochimaru for power in order to defeat Itachi Uchiha, the murderer of the Uchiha clan, who also happened to be Sasuke's older brother (Konoko grimaced when she heard this news). But this also meant that she knew about how the Village Elders went beyond the Third Hokage's back and ordered Itachi to slaughter his own clan (Konoko felt like throwing up at this point). All of this was made public when Lady Tsunade announced it in front of the entire village not long after the war.

Most of the villagers gave Sasuke a wide berth; they still didn't fully trust him after all of the sins he had committed in the past. Konoko couldn't really blame them. She knew that people often feared what they couldn't understand.

But Konoko saw how hard Sasuke worked in order to gain everyone's trust. He obeyed his house arrest, completed all of his hours of community service, complied with all of the mundane and lower ranked missions that he received, didn't put up a fight about constantly being shadowed, and never violated his parole.

So despite all of the inherent craziness, Konoko preferred to form her own opinions about who she should associate with, thank you very much. And Sasuke didn't seem so bad; he was just a very misguided man who was trying to atone for his past sins.

Now this didn't mean that she wasn't initially wary of the Uchiha—quite the contrary. The first time that she came in contact with Sasuke was last summer, when she had accidentally bumped into him at the crowded market. She had been on a quest to buy some tomatoes for her mother.

After Konoko was in the process of exchanging her money with the vendor (a kind old man who liked to talk a bit too much at times), she turned around to leave the stand, only to collide with the person who had been standing behind her.

Konoko had an 'I'm sorry for bumping into you' right on her lips, but her words died out when she stared up into the face of the man who had supposedly killed Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sanin, at the age of sixteen.

Needless to say, she freaked out a little and fled the scene, muttering a quick 'sorry' while leaving her bag of recently purchased tomatoes in the arms of her confused victim.

She was on her way to her parent's house after that incident, when she realized that she had foolishly left the bag of tomatoes in Sasuke's arms.

Realizing that she couldn't show up empty handed when her mother _really_ wanted those tomatoes for a special dish that she was making, she decided to muster the courage to face the Uchiha again in a more composed manner.

When she jogged back towards the market, black curls bound in a ponytail bouncing on her back with each step, she saw Sasuke standing at the entrance with her bag of tomatoes in his arms as he leaned up against a wall of a dumpling shop. As Konoko got closer to him, she was greeted with a quirked brow and a slightly amused expression on his face that read 'I was wondering how long it would take you to notice.'

Konoko slowed her jog and walked over to him sheepishly. When she finally stood in front of the rather imposing man, she peered up at his face (he was a good foot taller than her) and laughed in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that back there. It was a bit rude wasn't it…?" She trailed off awkwardly.

Sasuke just stared at her, smirk still in place.

' _Jeez…this guy…'_

Wanting desperately to end the situation that she was in at the moment, Konoko impulsively did the first thing that came to her mind.

She reached out and took the bag of tomatoes out of the Uchiha's arms (who gave no resistance). Once the bag was in her arms, Konoko searched inside of it for the biggest and juiciest tomato that she could find.

"Let's see….too small….too small…Oh! Here's one!"

Taking her prize out of the bag, Konoko thrust her right arm out in front of her with a big juicy tomato in hand, smiling at the man in front of her encouragingly. When Sasuke showed no signs of taking her offering, she set her bag down and reached forward, taking his right hand in hers. She turned the pale appendage so that his palm was facing upwards, and proceeded to put the tomato in his hand.

No—it wasn't the smartest thing that Konoko could have done if she was truly intimidated by the Uchiha and worried about her own safety. But as she picked up her bag and walked away from Sasuke, the image of him staring down at the tomato in his hand in curiosity brought a smile to her face.

He wasn't so scary after all.

* * *

As it turned out, Sasuke was quite fond of tomatoes.

Konoko saw him at the market again later that week at the same tomato stand. This time, Konoko (who was wearing a floral short sleeved blouse and brown shorts) decided to approach the Uchiha and actually have a conversation with him. She noticed that many of the civilians preferred to exchange as little words as possible with the former avenger and thought that he might feel more accepted into the village if he expanded his social circle.

Sasuke was wearing a black shirt with standard black shinobi pants. When Konoko finally reached him, she saw that he was examining a tomato in one hand while the old man who ran the cart chattered good-naturedly about the superb quality of his tomatoes.

Deciding that Sasuke could use some saving (his facial expression looked a bit pained), Konoko interrupted the one-sided conversation when she greeted the old man with a polite smile.

"Hi, Ojii-san."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke stop his perusal of the tomato to glance at her.

"Oho! Konoko-chan is it? You're just in luck! I've got some high quality tomatoes that I'm selling here today." He motioned at the tomatoes in front of him and Konoko had to admit that they looked pretty great. "How many do want?"

Konoko decided to humor the old man and gave the question a little more thought than necessary. She then took out the money necessary to buy three tomatoes and handed it over to him. "They do look great. I think I'll take three today, Ojii-san."

He nodded in understanding and accepted the money. His straw hat slipped slightly off of his head. He centered it once more. "Coming right up." He bagged four of the biggest and juiciest tomatoes in his stock and proceeded to hand them over to Konoko.

When Konoko saw that he had given her one more than she had purchased, she began to protest. The old man wouldn't have it.

"It's a gift to thank you for being such a pleasant customer!"

She accepted the gift graciously. "Thank you. Well, have a nice day. You'll probably see me again soon."

"I'll be here waiting."

Finished with her business at the tomato stand, Konoko turned towards the real reason why she came to the market that day….

Only to find out that Sasuke was walking away.

"H-Hey!" Konoko exclaimed in exasperation. She held onto her little bag of tomatoes tighter and sped up, her brown strapped sandals hitting the pavement as she tried to catch up with him.

He stopped abruptly, making her almost run into his back, and turned around to face her. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.

"You're that girl who had the tomatoes last time. Konoko, was it? Why are you following me?" He said this bluntly and with an air of impassivity that made Konoko lose some of the confidence that she had possessed earlier.

Konoko found it hard to look directly into his onyx eyes as she racked her brain for what she should say to him.

"I just wanted to talk to you," she offered nervously.

"…..you just wanted to talk to me?" He looked at her blankly.

"Do you _not_ want me to talk to you?"

He opened his mouth and almost gave a sarcastic reply, but Konoko quickly interrupted him before he could say anything.

"It's for research."

A quirked brow. "What research?"

' _Yeah, Konoko. What research?'_

Konoko's mind drifted off and then suddenly, she blinked.

Sasuke could practically see the light bulb that went off in her head.

"It's for a story that I'm thinking of writing. It's going to be an adventure piece and what would be better than to write it about ninja? I just need someone that I can observe for a little while in order to get some ideas. I also want to write realistically, so it would be nice to see some ninja in action."

It wasn't a complete lie. Konoko _had_ been thinking about writing a novel for a while. She could thank her love of books for that idea.

Sasuke didn't look convinced.

"…right. But why would you need me?"

Konoko cocked her head in confusion. "What do you mean 'why'? Aren't you a ninja? You'd be perfect!"

If Konoko wasn't paying attention, she would have missed the slightly sad and regretful look that crossed the Uchiha's face.

"How can I help you? Those types of stories usually need a hero of some sort. Why don't you find someone else?"

Konoko's light brown eyes softened in understanding. "Like I said, you'd be perfect."

* * *

From that day on, Sasuke reluctantly allowed Konoko to watch him train. Konoko didn't quite understand why he agreed to it because it was obvious that he didn't quite believe her whole 'novel research' explanation, but it might have had something to do with the fact that she didn't condemn him like so many others did. Sasuke clearly looked dismayed when he explained that he couldn't be the protagonist of the story, but Konoko let him know that she thought differently. It was a small step, but Konoko believed that she had gained a little bit of his trust that day. So after she was done at her shift at work, she headed to the training grounds, which was a good fifteen minute walk away.

Civilians weren't technical supposed to go there, but it wasn't like anyone would try and stop her. _'Enter at your own risk'_ was simply left unsaid. Ninja wouldn't actually try to hurt civilians on purpose. It was just that there were many dangers—kunai, destructive justu (the works)—that civilians just weren't trained on how to evade. Accidents happen.

He never invited her to observe him train with the other members of Team Seven; it was always just him. Konoko didn't know if it was because he didn't trust her enough to be around them, or if he just didn't want them to bombard him with unnecessary questions, but it didn't really bother her. Her little social experiment was on Sasuke Uchiha alone, and if that was all she got, that was good enough.

Konoko liked watching Sasuke train. While she sat at the base of a tree with a pen and a notepad in hand, she looked on in awe. His moves were smooth, fast, and deadly. She definitely wouldn't want to face him on the battlefield.

For the first few months, Sasuke and Konoko barely spoke at all. He simply gave her a nod of acknowledgement when she arrived at the training ground and another one when she left. However, one day this changed.

Konoko had the day off from work and had been sitting under the same tree that she always did when she watched Sasuke train. She was wearing a pair of baggy gray sweatpants and a blue t-shirt that may have been a bit too small because it exposed a bit of her stomach. Her dark curly hair hung freely over her shoulders and back as she casually observed the actions of the man before her. He had been practicing his Grand Fireball Jutsu and had just finished creating the impressive inferno.

Konoko noticed that the Grand Fireball Jutsu was one of the jutsu that Sasuke liked to practice the most and wanted to inquire about it further. She knew that other than the Sharigan, the Uchiha were great fire users; everyone knew that. What she wanted to know, however, were the things that _weren't_ common knowledge. She wanted to get him to open up.

With her goal in mind, Konoko hoisted herself up from her seated position on the ground and dusted herself off. Making sure that the remnants of the jutsu were gone and that it was safe for her to approach, Konoko walked across the field to the Uchiha, who was getting ready to go through his katas.

Sasuke stopped his movements and trained his eyes on her in interest. She had never approached him while he was training before.

While she walked over to Sasuke, Konoko thought through the various ways that she could breach the subject without offending him. The last thing she wanted was for him to shut her out completely.

Reaching the Uchiha with a plan firm in her mind while simultaneously trying to ignore the way that sweat traveled down his bare torso, she tried to act casually. "That fire ball jutsu is really impressive," she said nonchalantly. Needing something to do with her hands in order to keep them from fidgeting, she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I noticed that you practice that jutsu a lot. Is it one of your favorites or something?"

Sasuke didn't respond right away. He was silent for several seconds as his dark eyes searched her face.

He was looking for something. He was sizing her up and looking for any hidden motives. Konoko kept a look of interest on her face and tried to convey her honesty with her eyes. She shifted slightly. His silence and obvious examination of her was unnerving.

Sasuke must have found what he was looking for because the intensity of his gaze lessoned and he gave a small nod in confirmation. "It's a jutsu that I have had in my arsenal for a long time."

Pleased that Sasuke had finally answered (his staring was making her uncomfortable), Konoko asked the next question on her mind. "Who taught it to you?"

There. Konoko saw a look cross Sasuke's impassive face that let her know that the subject was hitting closer to home.

"My father showed me how to do the grand fireball when I was eight." His eyes left her face and he focused on a point somewhere over her shoulder. He appeared to be lost in his memories. "It's like a coming of age ritual for the Uchiha. I couldn't do it the first time I tried it and naturally father was disappointed," he said and the corner of his lip lifted slightly. "I practiced for hours on end because I hated disappointing him," he said. He shifted his weight and a breeze ruffled his spiky black hair. "When I finally got the jutsu and showed father, he said he was _proud_."

Konoko's eyes never left Sasuke's face; she was engrossed in his story.

"It's probably one of the few fond memories that I have of my father. That time, father wasn't comparing me to Itachi like he usually did. He told me to find my own path. It was the first time I felt like he saw me for me." He set his eyes back on her face; the sun reflecting off of his onyx eyes.

"So yes, I would say that it's one of my favorite jutsu to practice."

* * *

After that little encounter, it was needless to say that Konoko and Sasuke felt a lot more at ease around each other. The silence that usually engulfed Sasuke's training slowly increased to the point where Sasuke would actually speak to her while he worked. He didn't speak a whole lot; he was still _Sasuke_ and that was probably asking too much of him. But when she brought up different subjects in conversation—her annoying deadlines for work (she worked for the Konoha newspaper), something interesting that she read, a question about ninja—he would interject his own opinions here and there to let her know that he was listening.

Konoko knew that she was making progress with the Uchiha, but the first time that she had found Sasuke waiting for her after her shift at work, Konoko was surprised to say the least.

It was dark outside when Konoko walked out of the Konoha Times Company building wearing a black A-line dress and red flats. She had to stay behind in order to finish up an article that was due the next morning. She had spent all week running around and collecting interviews for her story. She was doing a piece on the current state of the orphanage system and Konoha's efforts to improve it. She had heard many heartbreaking stories and she barely got enough sleep at night.

Her stomach growled. She had missed dinner. _Again._

As she exited the building, rubbing her stomach with a frown, she spotted the Uchiha leaning up against the wall of the building with his eyes closed. He was illuminated by a nearby streetlight. A peaceful expression adorned his face.

Konoko walked towards the man in question. "Sasuke? What are you doing here?" Konoko asked quizzically.

Konoko hadn't seen him all week. She had told the Uchiha late last week that she would be swamped with work and wouldn't be able to observe his training. So why was he here?

Sasuke opened his eyes and observed her for a few seconds. He then proceeded to walk away, leaving a confused Konoko to stare at his retreating back.

Noticing that she hadn't moved from her spot, Sasuke stopped and looked behind him slightly. "Are you coming?"

Snapping out of her confusion, Konoko quickened her pace in order to catch up with him. When she reached his side, Sasuke continued walking. He didn't answer her question. Konoko voiced this.

"You know, you didn't answer my question," she said, as she glanced at him expectedly.

"You're being stupid."

Konoko was a bit offended at his blunt reply. "What?"

Sasuke peered down at her accusingly. "You're a civilian girl who's walking home at night. _Alone._ That's just asking for someone to come and take advantage of you, especially when you're wearing _that_."

Konoko tugged at her dress self-consciously. "I can take care of myself, you know."

" _Really_ ," he said sarcastically.

"Yes, _really_ , _"_ she shot back.

Suddenly, before she knew what was happening, Sasuke had both of her wrists in a tight grip behind her back. She didn't even see him move.

Konoko opened her mouth to protest, but shut it. She deflated slightly.

With his point made, Sasuke released her wrists.

The rest of their walk continued in a comfortable silence.

* * *

Konoko may have been one of the rare few girls who was able to get past the Uchiha's defenses, but that didn't mean that she would agree to what he had asked of her just now.

"Sasuke, do you even realize what you're asking of me?" she asked calmly.

Sasuke scowled. "I know what I'm asking, Konoko."

Light brown eyes narrowed slightly. "Then you should know why I can't say yes."

Internally, Konoko was screaming in frustration. When she had decided to try to befriend the Uchiha, she didn't know that it would come to this.

"I can't marry you."


	2. Chapter 2

I wanted to thank all of you who have reviewed, favorited, or followed this story so far. I'm so glad that people are enjoying it! I got this chapter up _a lot_ faster than I thought I was going to be able to. So without further ado...

Enjoy! :)

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Anything directly related to the Naruto manga/anime (all characters, backstories, settings, etc.) belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

 **It Started With a Tomato**

 **Chapter Two**

" _Sasuke, do you even realize what you're asking of me?" she asked calmly._

 _Sasuke scowled. "I know what I'm asking, Konoko."_

 _Light brown eyes narrowed slightly. "Then you should know why I can't say yes."_

 _Internally, Konoko was screaming in frustration. When she had decided to try to befriend the Uchiha, she didn't know that it would come to this._

" _I can't marry you."_

A few seconds of silence.

"And I don't love you," Konoko pointed out.

Sasuke's scowl deepened.

Konoko internally winced at her bluntness, but she didn't apologize. She knew that his pride had taken a hit, but she was too irritated at the moment to care.

"Hey! Don't give me that look! I know that you don't love me either!" she raised her voice in warning. Her temples throbbed painfully. She sighed and raised her hands to gently massage them with her fingertips.

"What?" Sasuke asked bitterly. "Is that the only reason?"

Konoko's fingers stopped rubbing momentarily as she looked at him incredulously.

" _Excuse me_? _"_

Before Sasuke had the chance to respond, he tensed. Another voice interrupted the conversation.

"Konoko?" said a gentle voice that was layered with concern.

The voice belonged to an older woman who appeared to be in her late forties. She had dark brown eyes and medium length, wavy dark brown hair. There were slight wrinkles near the corners of her eyes and mouth that hinted at the smiles and laughter that she must have shared over the years. All and all, she bared a striking resemblance to the young woman in question.

Konoko gave a meaningful look to the Uchiha in front of her that read _'we'll talk about this later'_ and rose from her seated position in her brown chair to address the woman who was standing behind the white gate.

"Okaa-san," she greeted with a strained smile.

Konoko was relieved that her mother had interrupted the conversation when she did. Konoko and Sasuke needed to have a _long_ and serious talk about the bomb he had just dropped on her, but not now. She didn't trust herself to form a coherent sentence towards the man at the moment.

Her mother opened the gate and walked through it, reaching the small porch in a few short paces. Her eyes widened in realization when she took in the young man who was standing before her. The red and white fan on his back really gave him away. "Uchiha-san," she said in a kind voice that contained a hint of surprise. She gave him a slight bow. When she rose, her eyes shot briefly over to her daughter. Konoko avoided her gaze.

Sasuke turned around and gave her mother a similar bow in greeting. "Yamamoto-san. I was just discussing a few things with your daughter."

Konoko was a bit shocked. She had never seen Sasuke act so _formal_ before. But yet again, they didn't really know each other all that well. The fact that this was Sasuke's first time meeting her mother could attest to that. The jerk.

"Konoko didn't tell me that you two were well-acquainted, Uchiha-san."

Sasuke's dark eyes flickered over to Konoko, who was now avoiding _his_ eyes, as he answered wryly. "We aren't that well-acquainted, Yamamoto-san." He shoved his hands into his pants pockets and ignored the pinched look that crossed Konoko's face. He addressed the woman once more. "It was nice meeting you, Yamamoto-san." His dark onyx eyes landed on Konoko as he addressed her tersely. "Konoko." With that said, he proceeded to cross the small backyard. He exited through the gate without sparing Konoko or her mother another glance.

Konoko and her mother watched him go in silence. A few moments passed before Konoko's mother began to pry.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Konoko tried to feign ignorance.

"You never told me that you knew Uchiha-san."

" _Everyone_ knows Uchiha-san, Okaa-san. I'm not that different." Konoko glanced sharply at her mother. "Do you not want me to associate with him?"

"Don't be so defensive, Konoko," her mother chastised. "He seems pleasant enough. You know I don't like to judge people based on the opinions of others." Konoko looked down and mumbled an apology.

"You two didn't seem to be getting along so well just a moment ago," her mother continued thoughtfully. "Did you fight?"

"No."

"Then what was with that look that crossed your face when he said what he did?" the woman inquired sternly as she planted her hands on her hips.

"Okaa-san. _Please._ I really don't want to talk about it," Konoko said pleadingly.

Her mother's eyes softened and she decided to drop the subject on the Uchiha. Her daughter seemed stressed. She walked over to the worn brown chair and sat down, patting the spot next to her in invitation. Konoko plopped down beside her.

"You're an adult now, so I won't pry any further. I just want you to know that you can talk to me and your father whenever something is bothering you." She let out a sigh. "I worry about you sometimes, Konoko. You can be so open, yet so distant at the same time. And you look like you haven't been sleeping well again." A strong breeze blew through the air and tossed a few of Konoko's dark curls. Her mother raised her hand and smoothed them down reflexively. Konoko closed her eyes with a sigh and leaned into her mother's touch.

After a few seconds, she opened her eyes to look at her mother. "I'm sorry for making you worry. And I _am_ sleeping a lot better, Okaa-san; I promise. I've just been really busy at work lately." Her gaze shifted out towards the sky. It was starting to get late. "I love working at the newspaper, I really do, but it can get pretty stressful."

And it was true. Konoko loved her job at the newspaper; it was a dream come true for her. With a lot of hard work and good amount of luck, the twenty-year-old landed her position as a journalist for the Konoha Times last year. She was getting paid for something that she loved to do and not too many people got that opportunity.

"You know, you haven't been to visit us lately," her mother said, interrupting her thoughts with her soft voice.

Great. More guilt. "I know, Okaa-san. I'm sorry."

"Well," her mother said in a brighter tone, "why don't you come and eat dinner with your dear old parents tonight?" She got up from her seat and looked down at her daughter with a quirked eyebrow.

Konoko eyes twinkled in amusement and she rolled her eyes playfully. "You two are far from being old." She got up as well and looked at her mother with a smile. "I'd love to. Thanks."

"Great! We're having sukiyaki," her mother said innocently.

"Sukiyaki? My favorite dish?" Konoko's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You planned this, didn't you?"

Her mother laughed. "So untrusting."

"You did, didn't you!" Konoko exclaimed. "You were going to guilt me into having dinner tonight. Why else would you have made sukiyaki?" Konoko pouted playfully. "That's sneaky, Okaa-san."

Her mother responded with a wink.

She listened to her mother's chatter with a smile. As they walked down the Konoha streets towards the busier section of the village where her parents lived, Konoko realized that yes—it _would_ be a good idea for her to eat dinner with her parents.

She had missed them a lot more than she had thought.

* * *

Dinner was a pleasant affair. After stuffing her face with sukiyaki, catching up with her parents over tea, and agreeing to stay over for the night (her dad adamantly refused to let his 'little girl' walk home alone), Konoko said goodnight to her parents (who were enjoying a third round of tea) and trekked up the stairs.

She had moved out of her parent's house shortly after she had landed her job working for the newspaper, at the age of nineteen. Although her parents were saddened by this (like any parent is when they realize that their child is growing up), they were also very supportive. They helped her with the entire house hunting process (maybe a little too enthusiastically; she was sure that the realtor was happy to have gotten rid of them), in which she fell in love with the small, yet cozy, two bedroom house that she lived in today.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Konoko walked past a short hallway off to her left that led to her parent's bedroom, as well as her father's study. She passed walls littered with pictures (birthdays, family vacations, school award ceremonies, writing competitions) before she came to another bedroom door on her right.

Konoko paused at the door, glancing at it. Feeling a desperate need to center herself, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Once she exhaled, she opened her eyes once more and resumed her walk down the hall.

She passed one more door (which led to a bathroom) before reaching the last door at the end of the hallway. It was her old bedroom.

Konoko opened the door and entered the room with a grin.

Her room hadn't changed at all since the last time that she saw it, which was when she moved out. Despite how this may sound, Konoko was _not_ a bad daughter. The simple fact was that she lived less than twenty minutes away from her parents, so there was usually no need for Konoko to spend the night. She could stop by (she could do this every day if she really wanted to), stay for a couple of hours, and be back home in no time.

But looking into her bedroom and seeing her award winning essays hanging from the vibrant turquoise walls, the bookshelf filled to the brim with childish novels, and her stuffed animals piled up on the bed made Konoko feel like she hadn't been there in ages.

She walked over to the bed and fell back on it in a careless sprawl. Her dark hair fanned out and contrasted sharply with the light blue of the comforter. She looked at the stars that were painted on the ceiling and let her thoughts finally wander back to what had happened with Sasuke.

Konoko was perplexed with Sasuke's actions. Based on what she had heard about the Uchiha, he had never shown any interest in any of his female admirers. And Konoko knew that there were a lot of them. But she also knew that people could change; _Sasuke_ changed. He _was_ a twenty-year-old man now; not exactly the same brooding and single-minded teen that he used to be.

Konoko made a sound of frustration and crossed her arms over her eyes.

She tried to evaluate what she knew about this new Sasuke. Sure, he tended to be reserved, but there was another side of him that Konoko never knew existed. He could be kind, arrogant, sarcastic, and understanding. He could listen to her rant about her day, tell her off for doing something that he thought was 'stupid,' and walk her home when she had lost track of the time at work.

However, despite all of this, Konoko couldn't see herself in a relationship with him, never mind marriage. You needed love for that (she didn't care if people thought this was a romanticized ideology) and Konoko's feelings were nowhere near that strong.

She _did_ care for him though, which is why she felt bad for turning him down the way that she did. Over the course of these past few months, Konoko had really started to see him as a friend.

Konoko muttered a few curses under her breath. Her anger began morphing into something akin to regret.

But the real question was this: Why the _hell_ did Sasuke have to go and complicate their tenuous friendship?

That was it. Konoko needed answers and Sasuke was going to give them to her.

Whether he wanted to or not.

With her declaration spoken clearly in her mind, Konoko began to feel better about the whole situation.

She might even be able to sleep well tonight.

* * *

Sasuke was angry.

But contrary to what other people may have expected of him, his anger was directed more towards himself than at Konoko.

He had deliberated on whether he should ask Konoko to marry him for months. Yes, he had initially been worried that he was asking her too soon, but then the thought that he was the last Uchiha crept into his mind as well as the reality of his own mortality. Shinobi were in constant peril when they were on missions. But what if Sasuke perished on one of these said missions? A clan that was once one of the strongest in Konoha—a clan whose symbol was one that Sasuke still wore proudly on his back—would be gone just like that. The Uchiha would be reduced to pages in the history books with no hope of a future generation to help cleanse their past sins.

The crushing weight of this burden kept him awake at night. Instead of the visions of blood and the falling bodies of his parents, he saw the disappointed faces of all of the Uchiha that came before him. They asked him _'How could you Sasuke? Why have you forsaken us?'_

And a result, he did something that he hadn't done since he was sixteen. He became desperate to please the disappointed faces in his dreams and acted recklessly.

Sasuke admitted that he became too cocky. The thought that Konoko would actually say no to him never crossed his mind. But she did and Sasuke probably paid the price for his rashness.

Did he love her? Honestly, he wasn't too sure if he knew what love was anymore. He loved his family, but they had been taken away from him when he was just eight years old. When he had found out about Itachi's love for him after years of lies and blind rage, it was too late and Itachi was _dead, dead at his feet._ So as he did before, Sasuke turned to self-loathing, but stopped himself before it turned to hatred. Sasuke promised years ago that he wouldn't let that fire consume him like it once did. Hatred almost killed Naruto and Sakura. Hatred had _killed_ Itachi. No more.

No, Sasuke may not have known what love was anymore, but he _did_ know that he didn't mind being around Konoko. She didn't look at him with untrusting eyes like so many others did. Sasuke would go as far as to say that he actually enjoyed her company. It was nice to be around someone who didn't know how to kill you for a change. She may have been loud and simple minded at times, but strangely enough, she never stepped into the realm of _annoying._ So despite her civilian status, he felt that they could live civilly together with her as the Uchiha matriarch.

The displeased face of his father came into his mind when he thought of this but Sasuke was quick to shove it away.

But none of this mattered anymore because he screwed up. Big time.

So when Sasuke arrived early the next morning for training, the members of Team Seven found him to be surprisingly snappish—something that was far different from the usual calm exterior that he had held for the past three years.

Naruto and the rest of his teammates could literally feel Sasuke's frustration rolling off of him in waves, so they had responded accordingly.

Kakashi, with crinkled eyes and a smile that was hidden behind his mask, had disappeared with a slight wave of his hand (as usual). Sakura was forced to drag Sai away for safety reasons (he kept addressing him as 'traitor' and Sasuke wasn't pleased). This left Naruto to deal with his raven haired teammate. Alone.

Sasuke stood a few feet away from Naruto, staring at him with narrowed eyes. Naruto scratched the back of his head, ruffling his spiky blond hair, while laughing nervously at the man in front of him. "So—"

Sasuke didn't let him finish. "Naruto. Fight me," he demanded while pulling out a sharpened kunai. He didn't wait for Naruto to respond before he began his deadly assault, forcing Naruto to be immediately on the defensive.

Naruto felt Sasuke's frustration in every blow that he was forced to dodge. The bastard wasn't sparring. He was trying to kill him.

"Alright, that's it!" Naruto exclaimed when a particular fire jutsu brutally mutilated one of his clones. "What the hell is your problem?"

"I have no problem," Sasuke snapped. He lunged at Naruto with his fist raised. It caught his cheek and Naruto winced. Naruto took advantage of the close proximity and delivered a punch to Sasuke's gut. He heard Sasuke cough.

"That's a damn lie."

"Just shut up and fight me," Sasuke barked.

Okay. Sasuke clearly had no intention of having a little heart to heart with him, but this didn't deter Naruto.

So even though the two twenty-year-old men were reduced to that of two little boys as they rolled around in the grass brawling, Naruto didn't mind.

Sasuke would tell him when he was ready. He always did.

* * *

She left her parent's house the next morning in a considerably better mood than the one she had been in the day prior. After having a hearty breakfast with her parents (her mother really outdid herself with that one) and remembering that she had the day off, she hummed a cheerful tune as she walked through the commercial district of Konoha. Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and her hands swung lazily by her sides. She wore black cotton shorts, gray running shoes, and a sky blue cotton shirt—she planned to go for a jog after she got home. Enjoying the cool morning breeze, she exchanged friendly greetings with the shop owners and vendors who were setting up for the busy day ahead of them.

"You seem to be in a good mood this morning, Konoko-chan," said an elderly woman's voice.

Konoko stopped and turned towards a little old lady who was standing outside of a small tea shop. Her wrinkled face was stern, but not unpleasant. Her gray hair was woven into a modest bun that sat on top of her head. She wore a loose, long-sleeved dark blue shirt and a matching skirt that went all the way down to her ankles. Her hands held a broom in her hands and her dark green eyes examined Konoko

Konoko gave the old lady a smile in greeting. "Obaa-chan."

The shop was similar to Ichiraku Ramen in that it consisted of a bar area out front where customers could sit and enjoy tea. For more private occasions, there were also two small tea rooms inside. The tea rooms were mainly for more formal or private occasions. Most people enjoyed sitting out front.

The shop also began selling sweets not too long ago, as per Konoko's advice. Today, a small sign that was placed outside of the shop showed the special of the day, which read 'hojicha and mochi for four-hundred ryo.'

"So how have people liked the additions to the menu?" Konoko inquired as she walked closer towards the older woman.

The old woman responded with a smile. "People love it! We give out more orders than ever before."

But her smile dropped as she took her broom and waved it towards Konoko threateningly.

"But you would know yourself if you hadn't stopped helping around the shop every day, now wouldn't you?"

Konoko smiled sheepishly. "Obaa-chan, that's—"

The old woman poked her in her stomach. "Don't argue."

"Yes, ma'am."

Some clanging could be heard in the back along with a few muttered curses, interrupting their conversation. The old woman looked towards the shop in exasperation.

"Kami knows that that girl can't be left in charge of the bar alone. I always have to leave Yori with her out front," she muttered to herself.

With that said, the old woman turned her attention back to Konoko. Konoko subconsciously straightened her posture under the scrutiny.

"Don't let that newspaper work you to the bone girl! You look like you've been skipping meals."

"Hai."

Green eyes took in Konoko's apparel. "You have the day off?"

Konoko nodded her head once in confirmation.

"Good." The old woman leaned the broom that she was holding up against the building and vanished into the back. A few moments later, she reappeared with a small black bag in one hand and a brown apron in another. She tossed the brown apron in Konoko's direction. Konoko caught it haphazardly.

"Then you can help Mitsuni set up the front since Yori's not here today. The tea room's booked and I need to go buy more supplies while the rest of the girls are setting up the back."

"Obaa-chan—"

"I also don't feel like paying for extra help."

Konoko sweat dropped. "Hai."

The old woman proceeded to leave the shop's vicinity and head towards the market.

For an old lady, she was rather intimidating.

Konoko tied the brown apron around her thin waist and slid into one of the wooden stools in the bar area with a sigh. She leaned her elbow on the counter, propping her head up with the palm of her hand.

A few moments later, a young woman with short, mousy brown hair that stopped at her shoulders appeared from around one of the corners in the back. Her eyes spotted Konoko.

"Konoko!" the young woman exclaimed. She walked towards the store front and stood before Konoko on the opposite side of the bar. "I thought that I heard your voice. Baa-chan roped you into helping out again, didn't she? The crazy old lady." Konoko laughed at her friend. She and her grandmother definitely had an interesting relationship.

"Mitsuni, you're terrible."

Mitsuni smirked.

Konoko and Mitsuni had practically grown up with each other. They had been best friends since the age of five.

Mitsuni's father had died not long after she was born. Her mother, never able to get over the grief of losing her husband, left Mitsuni in the care of her grandmother at the age of three. Although Mitsuni had forgiven her mother a long time ago, her grandmother still held a grudge.

"Well," Mitsuni started with a sigh. "I guess we'd better get started then." Mitsuni walked away from the counter and went towards the kitchen. Konoko hopped off of the stool and followed her. She _was_ supposed to be helping out after all.

* * *

Sasuke was avoiding her.

He hadn't met with her at the training ground all week, but she just _knew_ that he had been there. Every day that she had arrived at their allotted time, she noticed that the fields were becoming even more scorched than usual. She even decided to sleep there one night for kami's sake! She still wasn't able to catch him.

She also checked with the old man who ran the tomato stand.

"Sorry little lady," he had said, "I haven't seen that boy here all week."

Who was Konoko kidding? Sasuke was a ninja—a trained assassin. Not letting himself be found by Konoko was like child's play.

So Konoko found herself back at the tea shop a week later, slumped at one of the bar stools. Her forehead was rested on her arms, which were folded up on the counter. Mitsuni looked at the pitiful state of her friend and decided to find out what was bothering her.

"What's wrong with you?"

"He's avoiding me," Konoko answered dolefully.

"Who's avoiding you?"

Konoko shifted her head upwards so that her chin was rested on her folded arms. She looked into Mitsuni's face, which was brimming with curiosity.

"Sasuke."

Mitsuni looked at her friend quizzically. "Sasuke? You mean Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Yep."

Mitsuni gave her a blank look. "Well, duh. He doesn't associate with most people, Konoko."

Konoko sighed and decided to divulge the details. She told Mitsuni all about her quest to befriend Sasuke, how he had agreed to let her watch him train, how he had started walking her home when she stayed too late at work, and he finally, how he had proposed to her. 'Proposed' probably wasn't the right word to use, however. Demanded was more like it. After all, saying 'marry me' to a girl that you barely had a relationship with hardly counted as a descent proposal.

A few moments of silence passed.

"SASUKE UCHIHA ASKED YOU TO WHAT?!"

A couple of people who were passing by the shop gave the two young woman odd looks.

"Mitsuni!" Konoko hushed her friend frantically.

The brown-haired girl complied and tried to compose herself. She looked at Konoko with a piercing stare. "How the hell did this happen?" she demanded.

"That's what I want to know too."

The two girls let their thoughts wander. A few children in the street could be seen chasing each other, shrieking in excitement. A woman and a man, presumably the children's parents, looked on in amusement.

"I can't say that I blame him though."

"Huh?"

"For avoiding you," Mitsuni elaborated.

Konoko thought back to her conversation that she had with the Uchiha and grimaced. "I was too blunt."

Mitsuni busted out in laughter. Konoko glared.

"This isn't funny."

"Oh, it's funny all right," Mitsuni said in between laughs. She schooled her expression.

"' _And I don't love you,'_ " Mitsuni said, her voice in a higher pitch that was supposed to mimic Konoko's. She gave a rather unladylike snort. "Damn, Konoko. That would've made a lesser man cry. If I were him I'd probably be pissed too. He's probably never been rejected by a girl in his whole Uchiha life." She tapped her finger against her lips thoughtfully. "You know," Mitsuni began, "If this story gets out, most of the girls in Konoha will probably want to kill you."

" _Wow, Mitsuni_ ," Konoko said sarcastically. "You really know how to make someone feel better, don't you?"

"It's a gift," Mitsuni responded cheekily. Her tone became more serious. "So what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean 'what are you going to do?' He's been avoiding me all week. I don't know where he lives or the places that he frequents other than the tomato stand and the training ground that I've been going to."

"So? You're a journalist, aren't you?"

"Yeah. So?" Konoko didn't know where Mitsuni was going with this.

"So," Mitsuni drawled out while smirking deviously. "Use those skills of yours and do some snooping around."

Konoko looked at Mitsuni in awe. Why hadn't she thought of that?

"Mitsuni, I love you."

"I know, Konoko. I know."

After all, using her skills as a journalist to track down a man trained in the ninja arts should level the playing field at least a _tiny_ bit.

Right?

* * *

 **Some extra information about this chapter is included below:**

Sukiyaki = A Japanese soup-style dish that consists of a variety of meat, vegetables, and other ingredients

Mochi= Japanese rice cake

Hojicha= A type of Japanese green tea

Four-hundred Ryo = The money that is used in the Narutoverse (it is a very old currency that was once used in Japan) which equates to about four-hundred yen. This is roughly around three dollars and thirty-three cents in U.S. currency. Not bad, huh?


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everyone! I have to be honest: I feel _really_ bad about how long it has taken me to post this chapter! I have been extremely busy, but things are starting to slow down (thankfully). Updates will definitely be faster over the summer.

Also, I want to thank all of you who have favorited, followed, or reviewed so far. I don't know how long this story will be, but I hope that you will continue reading until the end!

Enjoy! :)

P.S. Do you know that panicky feeling that you get when you make an awesome ending for a chapter, but realize that you have _no_ idea where the story will head from there? Yeah. It sucks.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Anything directly related to the Naruto manga/anime (all characters, backstories, settings, etc.) belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

 **It Started With a Tomato**

 **Chapter Three**

 _"So," Mitsuni drawled out while smirking deviously. "Use those skills of yours and do some snooping around."_

 _Konoko looked at Mitsuni in awe. Why hadn't she thought of that?_

 _"Mitsuni, I love you."_

 _"I know, Konoko. I know."_

 _After all, using her skills as a journalist to track down a man trained in the ninja arts should level the playing field at least a_ _tiny_ _bit._

 _Right?_

As it turns out, you cannot simply walk into the Konoha registry and ask for a ninja's place of residence.

Even though you may adamantly claim that you are simply an innocent civilian—and hey you don't even have any weapons on you— you run the risk of no one believing you. You might be suspected of being a _very_ stupid enemy nin and consequently be taken away for questioning done by a rather intimidating interrogation unit. But once they see how fast you break under their harsh stares ( _'I'm a civilian. I'm telling the truth. Please don't kill me.')_ , a man with blond hair will laugh sheepishly and apologize for the confusion, all while giving you a few well deserved pats on the head. And a woman with purple hair, who threw a kunai within inches of your face, will take you out for dango. Just some food for thought.

And this was exactly how Konoko found herself in her current situation. After the man—Inochi-san was his name—had apologized to her for the mix up, Konoko had just wanted to go home. But no.

She was sitting (quite tensely, mind you) across from none other than Konoha's Anko Mitarashi—a former student of Orochimaru and a jounin of Konoha. Her specialization? Torture.

Yay.

Konoko shivered as she watched the purple-haired woman devour the sugary dumplings. Her own dango lay untouched in front of her. She cursed her little adventure that morning for her loss of appetite. She loved dango.

"Hey kid," Anko said through a mouthful of dough. She swallowed and motioned her stick towards Konoko's unfinished plate. "You gonna eat those?"

Konoko shook her head while her eyes watched the sharp object warily. She pushed the plate towards the older woman. "You can have them."

Anko gave a crooked grin. "Thanks." She then proceeded to wolf down Konoko's plate of treats. "We were lucky to get such a fresh batch," Anko said while licking her fingers. Konoko just stared at her.

After Anko was finished eating, she brought her left arm up and rested it behind her head. She leant leisurely back in her chair and began using one of the sticks to pick at the crevices in between her teeth. Her eyes rested on Konoko's nervous form. "So," Anko drawled, "since it's been confirmed that you aren't in fact a foreign nin trying to pull one over on us—which was rather easy to find out since no respectful shinobi would ever cave _that_ quickly—why don't you tell me what you were trying to do?" Anko inquired.

Konoko nibbled on her bottom lip and avoided Anko's curious gaze with a slight frown. "I was looking for someone."

Anko gave a short burst of laughter. "No shit, but I guess I wasn't clear enough for you." She quirked one of her brows and began rocking back in her chair. " _Who_ were you looking for?"

Konoko mentally debated on whether or not she should disclose this information to the woman in front of her and came to the conclusion that it didn't really make a difference. After all, it was just a name. "Uchiha-san."

Anko's second brow rose to meet the first. "Sasuke, huh?" She hummed thoughtfully. "What for?"

Konoko hesitated. "Well…" she trailed off.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to eat you or anything." She smirked. "You probably wouldn't taste good anyway," she said as she dragged her eyes over Konoko's form. "My snakes would though." Konoko felt her eye twitch. "And it's not like I really care." Anko leant forward in her chair. "But I could help you."

Konoko perked up slightly upon hearing this. "Really?"

"No," Anko deadpanned as she returned to her reclined position.

Konoko blinked at her in confusion. "Then why did you say that you would?"

Anko shrugged her shoulders. "Why do I say a lot of the things that I do? Who knows?" There was a pause in the conversation.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Konoko finally remarked. She tilted her head to the side and met Anko's eyes with her own. "I can see why you work in the interrogation unit. You like messing with people."

"Good girl. It looks like we have a winner," Anko responded dryly.

Konoko rolled her eyes, slowly forgetting her unease around the kunoichi. "But isn't there, _I don't know_ , something a bit wrong with screwing with people and enjoying it?" Konoko asked lightly.

Anko chuckled. "Kami. You really are a civilian, aren't you?" she asked rhetorically.

What was that supposed to mean?

Konoko's expression must have portrayed her silent question because Anko quickly elaborated. "You're naïve about shinobi matters," Anko said while placing her arms on the table. She edged closer to the girl in front of her.

"You do realize that missions often cross on the _immoral_ side of things, don't you?"

"Despite what you may think Anko-san, I do know that ninja may even have to—" Konoko lowered her volume self-consciously and glanced around her to make sure that no one else was listening to the conversation before continuing. "—kill people on missions, but they do what it takes to protect the village."

Anko hummed thoughtfully. Konoko frowned.

"What?"

"Look kid," Anko said while peering into Konoko's eyes. Her tone was serious. Konoko felt her posture straighten. "It's all about perspective when it comes to being a ninja. I mean it's nice to see that you think highly of us, but the whole _'protect the village'_ thing is a bit more complicated than that. No, scratch that. 'A bit' is an understatement. It's a hell of a lot more complicated than that."

Anko paused as she tried to think of the best way to voice her thoughts. Konoko kept her attention focused on the kunoichi in front of her. She could tell that what Anko was telling her was important.

Finally grasping what she wanted to say, Anko waved her hand in front of her face lazily. "That's the side of it that they tell civilians and younger kids who are just starting out in the academy—wouldn't want to scare them off too quickly. But then the harsh reality kicks in when they realize that a lot more comes with the job than what is listed on the initial job description. In my opinion, that's when someone can truly call themselves a shinobi: when they know both the good and bad sides of the job but are willing to accept the duty nonetheless."

Konoko took a lock of her hair and began tugging at it while she mulled over Anko's words. Anko was definitely turning out to be a surprise.

It was several seconds before Konoko spoke. "When did you become a shinobi, Anko-san?" she asked, picking her words carefully.

Anko gave a tight smile. "When I found out that my sensei was a psychotic bastard who used me and other innocent people for his experiments."

Oh.

"I'm sorry—" Konoko began, but Anko cut her off with a look.

"Don't," Anko said sternly. Konoko bit her tongue and looked down at her hands in discomfort. Anko continued on with the conversation as if nothing had happened.

"As I was saying: shinobi have to make hard decisions. And a mission may not always help Konoha in the way that people think. A missing nin from Konoha is on the run? Kill them. A crime syndicate is carrying out an operation that is becoming a threat to an aspect of Konoha's trade? Take them out. A fire country nobleman is coercing with enemies of Konoha? Assassinate him. His wife and children saw? And what was that? The mission details said to leave no witnesses? Then you'd better make sure that they're no longer breathing before you report back to the Hokage."

The last example made Konoko look at Anko in shock. "That—"

Anko didn't let her finish. "And we do things like this constantly—mission after mission. The number of kills to your name just keeps stacking up. And do you know what happens when someone is forced to do something over and over again?" Anko didn't give Konoko a chance to respond before she answered. "We become desensitized to it."

"But—"

"Eventually, some of us don't even bat an eye when we are on mission mode."

"…"

"And some of us, I dare say, actually come to _enjoy_ it."

Konoko could feel herself getting sick.

Anko gave a small sigh. "It may not be right, but that's what happens." She got up from her seat and stretched her arms above her head in an exaggerated fashion until she felt a satisfying pop in her shoulders. When she was done, she peered down at the girl in front of her. "You don't look so good," Anko hummed sympathetically. "The shinobi life isn't cut out for everyone kid. It's not something that many civilians are willing to accept or at least try to understand, but—" Anko paused as she looked Konoko over, "you seem a bit different somehow." Anko shrugged her shoulders.

And with that, she turned around and walked away, giving Konoko a slight wave of her hand in goodbye. Her tan trench coat swayed behind her.

Konoko was left to watch her retreating figure with a queasy stomach. The empty plates and sticks were left on the table in front of her. In morbid amusement, Konoko imagined that the plate of broken and chewed up sticks looked like mangled bones.

She would make sure to throw them away before she left.

Although what Anko had said made sense, Konoko had never liked to venture into that line of thinking. She wasn't naïve enough to think that shinobi flew around—well they _did_ kind of look like they were flying when they raced across buildings, but that wasn't the point—saving people like superheroes. I mean, _sometimes_ they did, but certainly not all of their missions came with the description of 'save Konoha.'

Like Anko had said: missions could very well be 'assassinate this supposed threat (who still might be innocent but we aren't taking any chances) for eighty thousand ryo,' Konoko thought with growing unease.

She could only imagine what these types of missions could do to the human psyche.

Her thoughts began to wander back to Sasuke—the whole reason why her conversation with Anko had even taken place.

Did _Sasuke_ ever experience the kind of bloodlust that Anko had described?

She knew that he had abandoned the village and went off to _Orochimaru_ of all people, but to think…

What did he do while he was there?

She thought of Anko's 'psychotic bastard' of a sensei and began to have a clue.

Konoko shot up from her seat and threw the remaining bones away in a nearby receptacle. Her search was over for the day.

* * *

Sasuke was silently fuming at the blond in front of him.

Naruto was doubled over with laughter. It was highly obnoxious.

Sasuke hated being mocked.

After a week of avoiding Konoko and debating over what he should do in order to fix the rather _troublesome_ situation that he was in, Sasuke drew a big, inconclusive blank. So he decided to drop by the dobe's apartment for advice. This of course meant that he had to disclose allof the details. Did he really want to do that? No. But in his eyes, it seemed like he had no choice. It was either go to Naruto—the only person he could really turn to for a matter such as this—or figure it out on his own, which obviously wasn't working.

But as Naruto's laughter continued, Sasuke started to regret seeking out his friend for help.

"W-wow Teme. And you always call me s-stupid," he managed to say in between laughs. Naruto wiped the tears that had collected at the corners of his eyes. "This is g-great!"

"Naruto," Sasuke growled.

"But seriously, I need to meet this girl and give her a hug!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth and began turning away. "If you aren't going to help me—"

"Okay, okay," Naruto sobered, ceasing his laughter. His friend could be so damn sensitive sometimes. "Don't get your Uchiha panties in a bunch."

Sasuke felt his eye twitch.

"In order to fix this, you're gonna have to put a lot of effort into making it up to her, and I mean _a lot,_ because honestly," Naruto looked at Sasuke seriously, "you suck at relationships."

Sasuke scoffed. "I suck at relationships? Last time I checked, you weren't seeing anyone either," Sasuke retorted.

Naruto snorted. "That's what _you_ think."

Sasuke raised his right eyebrow.

Naruto squinted. "…well at least I'm not a block of ice. At least I'm _approachable_."

"Whatever."

"Because that whole antisocial vibe you have going on isn't going to help."

"…are you done?"

"And it's not even just with women—and Kami knows that you suck _hard_ at that—it's just with relationships in general," Naruto continued. "If it weren't for me and Sakura making all of the effort, you'd probably never hang out with us."

Sasuke frowned. He was a bit offended that Naruto thought so little of him. "That's not true."

"Please, Sasuke. Stop. You're making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

Sasuke tried to slap him on the back of his head but Naruto dodged it. "…idiot."

"Yeah? Well you came to _this_ idiot for help, didn't you? Now do you want my advice or not?"

Sasuke stared at him blankly, silently telling him to get the hell on with it.

"Anyway, if you still want to marry her—wait. _Do_ you seriously want to marry her?"

The corners of Sasuke's lips thinned. "…I don't know."

Naruto threw his hands up in exasperation. "What the hell do you mean you don't know?!" He gave Sasuke a condescending look. "You don't just _ask_ a girl something like that if you're not sure!"

Sasuke's ran his hand through his hair. "I was running out of time."

Naruto's looked at Sasuke sympathetically. "Your clan?"

Sasuke grunted in confirmation.

"But still," Naruto said in an effort to redirect the conversation from less depressing matters. "How did _she_ —a civilian at that—manage to catch your attention when so many other girls in the village couldn't?"

"We get along."

"So? You get along with other kunoichi of Konoha Eleven, don't you?"

"No," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Now you're just being difficult. What about Ino? Tenten?" Naruto paused in thought. "…Sakura?" He added reluctantly.

"I tolerate them, dobe." He closed his eyes with a sigh and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Ino clearly enjoys having no attachments, and the rumors about her," Sasuke paused and cleared his throat uncomfortably, " _nightly conquests_ clearly speak for that." His voice returned to his usual nonchalant tone. "And Tenten is Hyuuga's teammate," he said plainly. He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow. "And really? Sakura? We both know that wouldn't work."

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Sasuke cut him off. "I tried to kill her with my chidori," Sasuke said bluntly.

Naruto flinched.

"And even though she said that she forgives me I know that she will never be completely at ease in my presence again."

Naruto frowned. "Sakura's not—"

"Haven't you ever wondered why I stopped using chidori during our team training?" Sasuke didn't wait for Naruto to respond before he gave the answer. "It's because the last time I did it, I saw Sakura tense up in fear. She tried to play it off and act like nothing was wrong, but I saw it clearly. We may be getting along better as teammates, maybe even as friends, but we'll never regain the trust that was lost between us when I left the village."

Naruto grimaced. "Right."

Sasuke diverted the conversation before Naruto tried to start making him feel better. He didn't need pity.

"The point is that we get along."

"What? You mean you like spending time with her?"

"...yes."

"Wait, wait, wait," Naruto said while making a halting motion with his hands. "You two _actually_ spend time with one another?" He paused. "Alone?"

Sasuke gave him an annoyed look. "Yes, dobe."

Naruto looked at him in bewilderment. "Wow. That's kind of romantic for you, even though it would be seen as completely normal for anyone else." He paused in thought. "But it was still a shitty move."

Sasuke's eye twitched yet again.

"Anyway, you're going to have to try to salvage whatever relationship you have left."

"And how do I do that?" Sasuke asked reluctantly.

Naruto grinned. It was obvious that Sasuke was uncomfortable with the conversation.

"Well first of all, you should probably wait until she's no longer pissed off at you."

"And she was," Sasuke offered.

Naruto nodded. "It's expected." He continued. "But you're in luck because I have a plan."

Sasuke looked at Naruto with distrustful eyes. "What plan?"

Naruto cleared his throat dramatically. "Phase one: let her cool off," he said while holding up his pointer finger. He put up a second finger while giving a cheesy grin. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Phase two: work on rebuilding the trust that you screwed up. Try to show her that you care." He put up a third finger. "Phase three: try to reestablish your relationship with her but let her decide where you two stand—that'll be the most important part," Naruto explained wisely.

Sasuke gave a small 'hm' in understanding.

"In other words: don't be such a cold-hearted bastard," Naruto quipped.

Instead of scowling, Sasuke smirked. "I'm almost surprised that something like that came out of your mouth, dobe."

Naruto flipped him off and plopped down on his tan couch.

"…thanks."

Naruto laughed and put his arms behind his head. "No problem."

* * *

Konoko was internally debating on where she should look for Sasuke next. After rounding up the names of the rest of the Konoha Eleven, Konoko determined that her best bet was to go to the Yamanaka flower shop and talk to Ino, who apparently still helped out around her family's business.

Ino-san was a rather pretty woman. She was certainly well-endowed (which made Konoko look down at her own chest with a frown) and also happened to be Inoichi-san's daughter (Konoko made a promise to herself that she would high-tail it out of there to avoid running into the man again). She had long, pale blonde hair and bluish-green eyes. Konoko found her to be quite friendly and helpful.

Konoko dropped by the shop and asked Ino where 'the famous Team Seven's training ground was because they're all _so_ cool.' She basically acted like a total fan girl, much to her chagrin. She also made sure to buy a few flowers as a courtesy. Ino took the encounter in stride and gave Konoko the general directions towards the training grounds.

So Konoko set off to find said training grounds. She spotted the location soon enough and found herself standing in an open clearing that was surrounded by trees. A lake was nearby and three wooden posts stood in front of it. It was a rather pretty sight to see as the sun's rays made the surface of the water gleam.

But were _any_ of the members of Team Seven there?

' _No, they were not,'_ Konoko thought dejectedly, as she walked slowly through the streets of Konoha. Her head was tilted downwards and her shoulders were slumped. The people that passed by her looked at her sympathetically. She was probably the perfect image of a walking failure.

A young boy did run up to her and yell _'fighting!'_ which made her smile. But when his mother pulled him away and scolded him for talking to 'strange ladies,' the smile slipped and her mood worsened.

But as she turned a corner, she spotted a flash of yellow. Then a flash of pink. And who did that coloring belong to, you ask? It was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, the self-proclaimed future Hokage, and Sakura Haruno, Lady Tsunade's apprentice and soon-to-be Head Medic of the Konoha Hospital.

And who was walking next to them? Sasuke Uchiha.

Konoko felt a burst of relief at the fact that her search was finally over. But as the Uchiha came fully into her view, these positive feelings were crushed as her anger began to take over.

 _Sasuke Uchiha!_

Konoko stormed through the people who were idly walking in the streets with her fists clenched at her sides. The people around her gave her a wide berth.

Konoko silently noted that her malicious intent must have been strong because she saw Sasuke's head shoot towards her direction. His eyes widened minutely.

Konoko's eyes narrowed.

' _There you are._ '

* * *

Naruto and Sakura had just been walking through the village with Sasuke when they heard a female's voice shout their teammate's name in anger.

" _Sasuke!"_

Naruto took a step back. Years of Sakura's fists hitting his head had conditioned him to know that when a girl yelled your name like that, it wasn't good.

Konoko proceeded to march right up to Sasuke, who had been watching her with slightly wary eyes. What came next was a shock to both Naruto and Sakura.

Konoko stood in front of Sasuke and glared at him challengingly. He stared at her.

Konoko's anger began to simmer as she looked at Sasuke's bland expression.

So the jerk wasn't going to react, huh? Well Konoko wasn't having it.

She poked his chest. Repeatedly.

Sasuke blinked, slightly taken aback.

"You think you can just go and do something like that and _disappear_ to avoid confrontation?" Konoko asked calmly, but there was an icy undertone to her voice.

She was mad. Sasuke knew that much.

Naruto and Sakura gaped in pure disbelief at the audacity of the girl's actions.

Just realizing that they had an audience, Konoko gave a polite wave to Naruto and Sakura, who still seemed to be in shock over what they were witnessing.

"Hello. You must be Sasuke's teammates." Konoko said good-naturedly. "Naruto-san and Sakura-san, right?"

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke, who was expressionless, before nodding her head.

"Yeah," Naruto said, as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Konoko directed the conversation back towards the topic at hand.

"Sorry for this rather _interesting_ interruption, but I need to borrow Uchiha-san for a minute, if you don't mind." Naruto and Sakura blinked at her. It was Sakura who responded this time.

"Well we weren't doing anything important—just walking through the village. He's all yours."

Konoko gave her a more pleasant smile in thanks. It wouldn't be good for her to take her anger out on Sasuke's teammates, after all.

"Great. Thanks."

She began to turn away from them, but when the reality of the situation finally came to her, she quickly turned back towards them in embarrassment.

She gave a quickly gave a deep bow that made her hair swing wildly over her face.

Naruto and Sakura began to sputter in protest.

Konoko laughed weakly. "My name! I almost forgot to tell you. I'm Konoko Yamamoto," she said, while trying to pull some pieces of her hair out of her mouth. She vainly tried to pat it down into some form of order.

Sasuke gave a suspicious cough.

Konoko was suddenly reminded of Sasuke's presence and quickly sobered. She turned around and walked away once more without sparing them another glance, but not before giving Sasuke a look that clearly said to follow her. _Now._

Sasuke sighed and shoved his hands into his pants pockets before complying at a slightly slower speed.

Once they were out of sight, Sakura asked the question that she and Naruto were both thinking.

"What the hell was that?" Sakura asked, still puzzled. "Who the hell was that? Does she have a death wish? Is it okay to leave her and Sasuke-kun alone?" Sakura asked worriedly.

A thoughtful expression crossed Naruto's face before he broke out in laughter.

Sakura looked at him in confusion. "What's so funny?"

Naruto smirked and crossed his hands behind his head. "Teme has a lot of work cut out for him if he ever wants to get to phase two."

"…huh?"

"Ah, nothing." Naruto brushed off. Sakura looked at him suspiciously, but Naruto gave her a wide grin in return.

"Hey, let's go get some ramen!"

"Forget it. I'm going home."

"But Sakura-chan!"

* * *

As Konoko led Sasuke to a very familiar training field, she was silent

And so was Sasuke, but that wasn't a surprise.

Konoko kept her back facing Sasuke as she reached the center of the grassy field, and waited for him to get closer. She knew that he was behind her, but she couldn't hear his footsteps. She also knew that he could have easily caught up to her if he really wanted to. It was frustrating.

"Konoko."

Startled, Konoko whirled behind her to find that Sasuke was leaning up against a tree a few feet away.

Sneaky.

"Sasuke," she stated.

A few moments of silence passed before Konoko spoke once more.

"Is it fun?"

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. That wasn't how he expected the conversation to start.

"Is it fun trying to take advantage of someone?" Konoko elaborated calmly. "Just because you think you can?"

"I wasn't trying to take advantage of you."

"Then what were you trying to do?"

Sasuke lips tensed and he fell silent. Konoko sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well, I said that I would let you explain. So talk."

Sasuke stared at Konoko. Konoko stared back.

"…you know about the Uchiha clan," he finally said. It wasn't a question, but Konoko answered it anyway.

Konoko glanced sharply at him. "Yes. Why?"

"On the night of the Uchiha massacre, one of the strongest clans in Konoha was almost annihilated. After the war, that number was brought down to one. Me."

Konoko was starting to get where he was going with this and she didn't like it.

"I'm the clan head and the clan's sole surviving member. If I die, the Uchiha clan will cease to exist." Sasuke gave her a meaningful look. "That's why."

Konoko's mind went blank for a few seconds, but she quickly came back to her senses.

"So you had it all figured out, huh?" Konoko didn't let Sasuke answer before she continued. "That I was just going to agree to marry you and help you rebuild your clan?" She glared. "I'm not a pawn to be played, Sasuke."

Konoko must have hit a nerve because it was Sasuke's turn to glare. "Don't talk about pawns around me," he said harshly. "I know more than you _ever_ will about being a pawn in someone else's game."

"Well that's the problem, isn't it?" she bit back. "I'll probably _never_ understand you. The burden that you have to carry…" She let her sentence trail off as she looked down at her sandal clad feet. Her right foot was standing in the dewy grass, which tickled her toes. She wiggled them as a distraction from the growing lump in her throat that came whenever she got upset. Her left foot stood in a small dirt patch. Her sandal was getting dusty. She would have to clean it when she got home.

"I would see you walking through the village and couldn't help but think about how lonely you looked. So that's why…" Konoko stopped herself. "But maybe that was a mistake," she mumbled as she thought back to her earlier determination to befriend the Uchiha. She had let herself get mixed into something that she had no business being in.

"I lied to you," Konoko admitted. "I wasn't initially intending to write a book about ninja when I approached you that day." She chuckled humorlessly. "But you obviously didn't believe me. I probably looked pretty pathetic at that moment, huh?"

Sasuke remained silent.

"But that's okay. And it's probably best that I don't look over your training anymore, because right now…"

Konoko shook her head before glancing back up at Sasuke with disappointed eyes.

"I just can't."

And with that said, Konoko walked away from the training field.

Sasuke couldn't help but notice the empty feeling that had settled in his stomach.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Anything directly related to the Naruto manga/anime (all characters, backstories, settings, etc.) belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

 **It Started With a Tomato**

 **Chapter Four**

 _"I lied to you," Konoko admitted. "I wasn't initially intending to write a book about ninja when I approached you that day." She chuckled humorlessly. "But you obviously didn't believe me. I probably looked pretty pathetic at that moment, huh?"_

 _Sasuke remained silent._

 _"But that's okay. And it's probably best that I don't look over your training anymore, because right now…"_

 _Konoko shook her head before glancing back up at Sasuke with disappointed eyes._

 _"I just can't."_

 _And with that said, Konoko walked away from the training field._

 _Sasuke couldn't help but notice the empty feeling that had settled in his stomach._

It had been two months since Konoko had confronted Sasuke and she still wasn't speaking to him. Hell—not speaking to him was putting it too nicely.

She was avoiding him like the plague.

Sasuke was frustrated to say the least and needed to clear his head.

And what did Sasuke do when he needed to think?

He trained.

Sasuke was currently standing in the middle of his usual clearing; his head was bowed and his eyes were closed. He was wearing gray shinobi pants that were rolled above his ankles, a black V-neck shirt on top of a brown, mesh tank, and black shinobi sandals. White bandages were wrapped around the ends of his pants to keep the fabric from falling down his legs.

A gentle breeze ruffled his spiky black hair, causing his bangs to tease his forehead playfully.

The leaves shook and the grass swayed, but no other noise could be heard. It was as if the surrounding forest was waiting in anticipation of the show that was to come.

Inhaling deeply, Sasuke bent his knees while simultaneously drawing forth eight kunai from the pouch that was strapped against his thigh. He grasped the handles firmly in both of his pale hands, making sure that they were spread out in between his fingers.

Without warning, he exhaled and launched himself from the ground. Once he began losing the fight against gravity, he twisted his body in midair so that his feet ran parallel to the sky.

Now upside down, and plummeting towards the earth below, Sasuke spun. Rapidly.

In a blur, he released his eight kunai with deadly precision.

He threw two kunai from his left hand and soon after that, two kunai from his right. The four kunai collided with one another and their pathways were redirected towards their intended targets. The other four weapons followed in the same manner. The only sounds that permeated the clearing were those of metal against metal and metal against wood.

'Clang'

'Thud'

Sasuke landed in a crouch with his palms flat on the ground. His left knee was tucked under his chin.

In the distance, a bird squawked

 _Eight kunai were released from his hands._

Sasuke lifted his chin and revealed two blood red orbs. The three black tomoe in each eye spun rapidly as he examined his work.

 _And all eight kunai had reached their targets—even the ones that were in his blind spot._

He gave a small, wistful smile.

 _Just like Itachi._

But Sasuke hadn't expected anything less.

He deactivated his sharingan before standing up from his position on the ground. He leisurely walked over to each of the scattered targets to retrieve his weapons.

Sasuke remembered how in awe he had been when he first saw his brother complete this routine. Back then, the gap between their abilities seemed so large. The thought of catching up to Itachi seemed inconceivable.

But this was child's play to him now.

Sasuke vaguely wondered if his brother would be proud of him if he were still alive today. Would Itachi be proud of the decision that Sasuke made in the end—to fight with his fellow comrades and return to Konoha? Would he be proud of the way that Sasuke was living his life? Would Itachi see how hard Sasuke was trying?

He turned his thoughts back to the matter at hand—the reason why this little training session was happening in the first place.

Was Itachi watching him from wherever shinobi go to when they die (he prayed to Kami that his brother wasn't in Hell)? If he was, was he laughing (internally because his stoic brother never showed much outward emotion) at his current predicament?

' _Foolish little brother indeed,'_ Sasuke thought before cringing at his own negativity. He swore to never repeat that phrase again. It contained too many unpleasant memories.

Naruto had told Sasuke that he needed to let Konoko cool off before progressing into 'phase two' (as Naruto had not-so-cleverly named it), but how long was Sasuke supposed to sit back and wait?

The Uchiha may have been a prodigy, but he wasn't the most patient person, contrary to popular belief.

After all, he valued decisiveness, which (in his book) was a very admirable trait.

Sasuke had to use a bit more force to pull out one kunai that had implanted itself a little too deeply into its target. He brought it up to his face and stared at the black dagger thoughtfully.

Sasuke didn't like all of this waiting.

And although Sasuke had to admit that Naruto's plan wasn't exactly a bad one (it was still a bit rough around the edges, but nonetheless, it was impressive for the dobe), he knew one thing.

This part of the plan wasn't working.

Konoko was stubborn. Sasuke had to give her that.

He glanced over at the base of a certain tree—the place where Konoko usually sat when she watched him train— with a frown.

That spot, _Konoko's spot,_ had not been occupied in a long time.

And it made Sasuke feel weird.

Clutching the handle of the last kunai that he retrieved, Sasuke made up his mind.

A more direct approach would be needed.

* * *

Ever since Konoko had told Sasuke off (rather dramatically at that) and scolded him for being so thoughtless, she decided that she wasn't going to let one stupid Uchiha's actions get her down.

So she threw herself into her work.

She hauled ass at her job and was probably the most productive that she had been all year.

She also stayed on top of her visits with her parents and helped out at the tea shop more frequently.

Her co-workers were relieved.

Her boss loved her.

Her parents were content.

Obaa-chan and Mitsuni were grateful.

Konoko was even beginning to feel like she ready to put the whole ordeal behind her. She began feeling confident that she could stop avoiding Sasuke like a coward.

She was _fine,_ damn it!

At least she _thought_ that she fine, until she began to get a weird tingling feeling at the back of her neck.

You know that feeling—the one that you get when someone is watching you?

Last week was the first time that Konoko had felt the peculiar sensation. She had decided to go for a jog through the village (the weather was nice and she _really_ needed the exercise). Halfway through her trek, she had the strange feeling that she was being tailed. But when she looked around her, she saw no one.

Konoko shrugged off the encounter and blamed it on her imagination. And the unhealthy amount of caffeine that she was consuming in order to keep up with her new Uchiha-free life.

But then the same incident occurred the next day, and the next, and the day after that. When a week had finally passed, Konoko realized that her earlier suspicions may have had some merit.

Needless to say, it was making her paranoid.

She couldn't sleep with the curtains open anymore.

So when that unwelcomed tingling feeling encroached on Konoko's senses one Saturday afternoon while she was out walking through the Konoha market (she had plans to meet up with Mitsuni for lunch), she tensed.

She slowly began turning her head behind her with the hope of catching sight of her stalker. Her eyes widened in surprise when she caught a glimpse of the very person that she was avoiding.

Sasuke.

In a panic, Konoko ignored all sense of rationality and followed her body's instincts of self-preservation.

In a dazzling display of cowardice, she ducked behind a nearby takoyaki stand.

She felt herself sigh in relief at the newly found cover, but scolded herself immediately afterward.

 _'What's wrong with me?'_ Konoko wondered in bewilderment. First: why was Sasuke following her? Second: why did she hide? She had thought that she was starting to get over her issues with Sasuke, but her body was obviously telling her otherwise.

"…Konoko? What are you _doing_?" Konoko was startled by the interruption and spun around to find Mitsuni staring down at her quizzically. Her mousy brown hair was twisted up into a casual bun. Two pieces of hair fell down in front of her ears. She wore an oversized gray T-shirt (that was slightly wrinkled) and black shorts.

Mitsuni always meant it when she said that the dress code was casual.

Konoko frantically motioned her friend to duck down beside her. "If you're going to talk to me then get down!" she exclaimed. Mitsuni was giving away her position for Kami's sake.

"You're hiding behind a takiyoki stand." Mitsuni remarked offhandedly.

"...I know."

A paused. "Did you steal something?"

"What?" Konoko asked, offended. "No!"

"Well that's good," Mitsuni said while nodding her head, "because this hiding place sucks. You would be caught in no time."

Konoko gave her friend an odd look, but merely shook her head.

"So if you didn't steal anything, then why are you hiding?"

"It was the closest thing that I found."

"…that's not really the point I was trying to make."

Konoko lifted her head above the stand and peered out into the throng of people.

Mitsuni simply stared at Konoko, whose eyes were scanning the crowd rapidly, and sighed in exasperation. She stooped down beside her.

"You're so lucky that the owner of this vendor is not here right now because what would they think if they saw you—some weirdo—ducking behind a stand like it's some kind of fort? Like a little kid." She smirked. "You _are_ in your twenties right?" Konoko made a sound of affirmation even though she wasn't really paying attention.

"So since you won't tell me what happened, I'll figure it out on my own." Mitsuni pretended to think for a few seconds in search for the answer. "Let me guess: you thought that you were over the whole 'Sasuke ordeal,' but you weren't. As a result, you chickened out at as soon as you saw him, thus leading to this embarrassing situation that I am now a reluctant participant in." Mistuni scowled. "And all _I_ wanted was a normal lunch."

Konoko stopped her perusal of the crowd and blinked at her friend in surprise. Her assessment was completely accurate.

"…that's exactly what happened. How did you know?"

"Because it's you," Mitsuni deadpanned. "Are you forgetting that we've known each other since we were five?"

A fly buzzed near Konoko's ear. She swatted it away.

"Oh," Konoko replied sheepishly. "Right."

There was a pause.

"But the good news is that he's gone. And better yet? I don't think that he saw me," Konoko remarked optimistically.

"I guess," Mitsuni said with a snort. She looked at Konoko expectantly. "Now can we go eat?"

* * *

After the first time that Konoko nearly ran into Sasuke, she began seeing him _everywhere._

One day after work, she heard rumors circulating that the 'dark and mysterious Uchiha' was standing by the front entrance of the building.

The girls in the office had a field day over that. Konoko overheard some of them discussing their elaborate fantasies. They were rather alarming.

Curious in spite of herself, she peered out of a second story window (where her desk was located) that faced towards the front of the building and confirmed that the rumors were indeed true.

When she was done for the day, Konoko escaped through the back doors.

Another day, while walking towards the tea shop to visit Mitsuni and Obaa-chan, Konoko saw him sitting at the bar area.

Alone.

Konoko abruptly turned in her spot and walked away in the other direction.

She silently promised herself that she would visit them some other time.

And to top it off, she even caught him standing outside of the dango shop that she began visiting more frequently (strangely enough, her encounter with Anko did not deter her).

Konoko started having suspicions that someone was selling her out.

Sasuke didn't even _like_ sweets!

Konoko's close-encounters with Sasuke were beginning to wear down on her nerves, which could explain the sorry state that Mitsuni found her in one Friday night.

"That's it," Mitsuni declared. "We're going out."

Konoko was currently curled up under her dark navy sheets as Mitsuni stood over her bed, glowering down at her threateningly.

"No," Konoko grumbled, while pulling the sheets tighter over her head. "How did you get into my house anyway?" Her question came out as a barely audible murmur, so it took Mitsuni some effort to understand.

"I used the spare key in the potted plant by the front door," Mitsuni explained. She began wagging her finger with a frown. "By the way, you really need to find a new place for that—it's too predictable," she chastised. "What if I were some creepy pervert? I'd be in your house right now, standing over your bed—"

"Like you're doing right now?"

"—watching you waste your Friday night away like some hermit," Mitsuni continued, unfazed by Konoko's interruption.

Konoko made an indistinguishable noise underneath her sheets. Mitsuni narrowed her eyes.

Ignoring Konoko's shrieks of protest, Mitsuni ripped the sheets off of her. She then stomped over to Konoko's closet and rummaged through it, stopping once she pulled out a short, strapless black dress. She threw the dress at Konoko's head, which Konoko failed to catch in her disgruntled state. Konoko pulled off the offending object to glare at her friend—her frizzy curls hung wildly around her face. Mitsuni snickered.

"Your hair's a mess. You can't go out like that."

Konoko stuck her tongue out. "It doesn't matter because I'm _not_ going anywhere."

* * *

"I'll take another shot of shochu," slurred a female voice.

"You sure missy?" a male voice answered skeptically.

Konoko was sitting at the bar with her elbow placed on the counter; her head was tilted and her chin rested in the palm of her hand. She was wearing the black, strapless dress (that was a bit too snug for her liking) that Mitsuni _forcefully_ encouraged her to wear. Her long, black curly hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail—the length of it spilled down her back. The makeup that she wore accentuated her features—red lipstick donned her lips and black eyeliner was painted on her half-lidded eyelids. Her right leg was crossed over her left and her black heels dangled carelessly in the air.

Mitsuni (wearing a short, dark green dress with black flats) had practically dragged her to the bar. Shortly after the two friends arrived, Mitsuni took notice of a man with reddish-brown hair who had been eyeing her with interest. When Mistuni turned to Konoko with puppy dog eyes that were _begging_ to go talk to the man, Konoko had waved her off with a small smile. Just because she wasn't in the best of moods didn't mean that her friend couldn't have a good time.

"It'll take more than a couple of shots to get me drunk, sir," Konoko replied with a lopsided grin.

The bar tender simply shook his head at her with a sigh. As he turned around to get the bottle of shochu, Konoko vaguely heard him mutter 'it's none of my damn business.'

Konoko felt a presence slide into one of the bar stools on her right, but she ignored it. A few moments later, the bar tender turned back towards her with the bottle in hand. He poured the clear liquid into Konoko's glass and she gave him a grateful smile. But before she had the chance to down her glass, she heard the person sitting next to her speak.

"You seem like you've had quite a few already," remarked a gruff voice.

Konoko didn't turn around to look at him. "Trust me. I have a high alcohol tolerance," she attempted to say, but the word 'tolerance' kept getting caught on her tongue. It took her three tries to get it right.

He chuckled, causing Konoko to glance over at him. He was a man—probably in his late twenties—with wispy brown hair and dark green eyes. She realized that it was probably his smile that won women over (the dimples that appeared were cute, she had to admit), considering the way that he was showing it off to her (it was so obvious), but other than that, he was pretty average in the looks department.

On the outside, he seemed friendly enough, but Konoko knew better.

She didn't like the way that he was peering at her—like she was some kind of fun toy that he couldn't wait to try out.

"What's a girl like you doing alone at a bar?"

It was so cliché that Konoko had to stop herself from throwing up.

But yet again, that might have just been from the shochu.

She smiled thinly and swirled the alcohol in her glass. "I'm not alone."

"Oh?" he asked with interest.

"Nope," Konoko said plainly. "I came with someone."

"Well I don't see them around."

"Oh, they're here alright."

He smiled at her seductively and leaned a bit too close for comfort.

Konoko's eye twitched as she tried to regain some of her personal space.

"Well, what if you were to leave with someone else?" he insinuated.

"I don't think so," Konoko replied, while gripping her cup in annoyance. Couldn't this guy take a hint?

"I don't think she's interested," a deep voice interjected smoothly from over her left shoulder.

It was Sasuke. He wearing a plain black t-shirt and black pants (she was beginning to suspect that he had a _very_ limited wardrobe).

Konoko almost dropped her glass in shock. He was the last person that she expected to see at such a place. The whole bar scene seemed beneath him.

Looks like you really do learn something new every day.

The man with brown hair frowned as he glanced between Sasuke and Konoko.

"You're with him?" he asked, directing the question towards her although his eyes remained fixed on the Uchiha that was standing next to her.

Konoko opened her mouth, ready to deny the ridiculous assumption, but Sasuke was faster.

"Now she is."

Cheeky.

The man grumbled in annoyance, muttering something that sounded like 'arrogant Uchiha' under his breath. Sasuke glared at him.

Encouraged by Sasuke's threatening look and not wanting to antagonize him any further, the man slouched away (most likely to go latch on to his next victim).

Thinking that the conversation was over, Konoko reached towards her glass, but a pale hand intercepted it before she did. She made a small sound to express her annoyance and turned towards the man who _dared_ touch her drink….

…only to find herself staring deeply into onyx eyes.

"Sasuke?" Konoko asked. "You're still here?"

He didn't respond.

She narrowed her eyes at the man before her and parted her lips to say more, but he turned away from her and started talking with the bar tender. How rude.

Sasuke nodded his head towards her. "Put her drinks on my tab."

"Will do," the man replied. He walked away to go tend to his other customers. Konoko voiced her protests.

"I can take care of my own drinks, Sasuke." She paused and looked towards the glass that Sasuke was holding. "And I wasn't finished with that yet," she complained.

"Idiot."

"What was that?" Konoko asked, irritated. .

"If you can't handle the alcohol then why drink past your limit?" He examined her state of dress with furrowed brows. "And what the hell are you wearing?"

Konoko could feel the disapproval radiating off of him in waves and she didn't like it.

She turned her body in her stool so that she was facing him and leaned forward in her seat. "Oh, I'm sorry," she began sarcastically, "I didn't know that I needed your permission to live my own life." She pulled at her dress self-consciously. "And I think that I look nice."

Sasuke snorted. "Can you even breathe?"

Not wanting to hear anymore comments about her choice of clothing for the night, Konoko changed the subject. She pointed a finger at him accusingly. "Forget about that. Why were you following me around like some sort of stalker?"

"You were avoiding me," he simply stated.

When the subject of 'avoiding' came up, Konoko tapped his arm a couple of times in order to get his attention (even though his attention was already focused on her). Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked.

"And what about that time that _you_ started avoiding _me_?" She pouted. "Do you know what I went through while trying to look for you?"

"I thought you wouldn't want to see me," Sasuke replied, his voice tinged with amusement. Konoko was a lot bolder when she was drunk. It was interesting.

"Why would I do that if I told you that we would talk about it later?"

Sasuke blinked slowly, as if he were talking to a child. "You never told me that."

"Of course I did, I gave you t-that look," Konoko said with a hiccup.

"You mean that glare that read 'I want to kill you'?" Sasuke asked in irritation. "Yeah, that was so clear. How could I have misread it?"

Is that what it had looked like? Oops.

"I guess I'm not the best at showing my feelings through looks," Konoko rationalized. "Well anyway, I even got questioned by the interrogation unit while trying to find you. So you can say that the drinks that you just paid for were well deserved."

Sasuke stared at her in disbelief. "…you got questioned by the interrogation unit?"

Konoko nodded dolefully. "Apparently, asking for a ninja's place of residence and not being registered in the shinobi database screams 'enemy shinobi.' " She paused in thought. "And not much happened. My head _did_ almost get impaled by a flying kunai though."

"Sounds rough," Sasuke offered, not really knowing what else to say.

"Yeah, but Anko-san took me out for dango. I didn't eat any of it though because all of the talk about killing…killed my appetite."

Sasuke wasn't quite sure what to make of Konoko's ramblings, so he decided to turn the conversation in another direction. "But more importantly, why were you avoiding me?"

Konoko scoffed. "Because I came to my senses."

Noticing his questioning look, Konoko elaborated.

"Naturally, I was still upset about your out-of-the-blue proposal. Plus, _you_ should have been the one to seek me out anyway," she explained. "And now I'm tired and want to go home," she said with a yawn. Konoko got out of her seat and turned away from the counter, but not before thanking Sasuke for covering her drinks.

"Oh, right. Thanks for the drinks."

Konoko clumsily walked away from Sasuke and began looking for Mitsuni to let her know that she was ready to leave. Vaguely remembering where she last spotted her friend, Konoko proceeded to the table that was located in the back right corner of the bar. But when she approached the table that Mitsuni had been sitting at with the man with reddish-brown hair, she didn't find her. Instead, she discovered a yellow note that contained her friend's (somewhat sloppy) handwriting.

' _I saw that Sasuke-san was keeping you company and decided that you were in good hands. Don't chicken out! :)_

 _Love,_

 _Mitsuni'_

Konoko crushed the note in her left hand, annoyed at her friend's gall. As she stalked out of the bar, the people around her gave her a wide berth, not wanting to get in her way.

As she stepped out of the building and into the cool night, Konoko sighed in relief. But as she started towards her house, a voice called for her attention.

"Konoko," Sasuke began. Startled, Konoko's body whirled around to find Sasuke standing underneath the dim street light with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Sasuke," she stated.

Sasuke scowled at her unamused. "You need to be more aware of your surroundings."

"Is that all?" Konoko asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No," he shot back. A look of hesitation crossed his features before he formed his next words.

"You're still angry."

Konoko smiled sweetly and approached Sasuke, hitting his arm playfully. "Don't be stupid." Konoko's half-lidded eyes took on glare, which looked particularly menacing under the low lighting. Sasuke watched her with wary (but somehow still impassive) eyes.

"Of course I'm still mad at you."

She began to tell him off. Loudly.

Sasuke noticeably flinched at the sudden increase in volume.

"I can't believe you asked me that! I'm only twenty years old for Kami's sake! You asked me to marry you without considering my feelings at all, Sasuke. I deserve better than that." Her voice softened. "You deserve better than that too."

Sasuke looked uncomfortable with the direction that the conversation was going and tried to avoid her piercing gaze. "I assumed—"

"That I was an easy target who wouldn't be able to resist the Uchiha charm?"

"That's not—"

"That little Konoko-chan would be completely okay with being no more than a glorified baby machine?" A vein ticked in Sasuke's forehead.

"If you'd just let me—"

"That—"

"Damn it, Konoko!" Sasuke exclaimed impatiently. He consciously lowered his volume so that other people couldn't hear their, _ahem_ , conversation. "If you'd just stop interrupting me and let me talk."

Konoko crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Please do."

Sasuke looked up towards the star-filled night sky with a sigh. He ruffled his raven hair in frustration. He focused his eyes back down on the girl in front of him.

"It was a mistake. I'm sorry"

"Can I get that in writing?"

"…"

Konoko smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Please continue."

He looked at her seriously. "I know that what I asked of you was wrong. I was being selfish. I guess I haven't changed as much as I thought."

Konoko struggled to keep her attention on Sasuke as she swayed slightly on her feet. She really did drink past her limit.

If Sasuke noticed her increasingly debilitating state, he didn't say anything. He just needed to get this much off of his chest, drunk Konoko be damned.

"When I left Konoha to go train with Orochimaru, I told myself that this part of my goal—restoring the clan—was no longer important to me as long as I got my revenge." He frowned in thought. "But when that goal became important again after I came back to Konoha, I realized that my previous way of thinking really came back to bite me in the ass." He chuckled humorlessly. "People either hate me, are terrified of me, or don't trust me. I'm not exactly the most desirable person to get married to."

Konoko looked at Sasuke, slightly bewildered. Konoko had to admit that she was flattered that he trusted her enough to be this open with her, but really—this was too much.

Konoko reached forward and poked him on his arm. Sasuke furrowed his brows in confusion.

"I may be angry with you but for Kami's sake— _please_ stop with the self-degrading," Konoko said sternly. "Yes, you were inconsiderate. You've made a lot of mistakes. And I know that last time I said that it would be better if we were no longer friends, but I was just hurt." She gave him a small smile. "You're not so bad Sasuke—really you aren't," she reassured once she saw the doubtful look that crossed his face. "You have a lot of barriers put up, which can be off-putting at times, but I _would_ like it if we could continue being friends."

She paused. "Just no more random marriage proposals, okay? I know that I'm awesome and everything, but you really put me through the ringer with that one."

Sasuke stared at her incredulously. "You forgive too easily."

"Shouldn't you be happy?" Konoko asked with a roll of her eyes. "I mean look at you. You're already complaining and turning into Mr. Grumpy pants," she chided him with a small giggle.

"…right. You're drunk," Sasuke reminded himself, as he turned away from her with a sigh. He was honestly surprised by how coherent Konoko still managed to sound (which was probably why he managed to forget in the first place). He just hoped that she wouldn't forget their conversation in the morning.

He turned back towards the woman who was standing (quite shakily at that) next to him. "Come on," he said with a tilt of his head. "I'll walk you home."

"Thanks," Konoko said as she nudged his side with her elbow.

Sasuke had to admit that he felt a lot lighter than he had in months.

* * *

 **How does everyone like this story so far? I'm** _ **really**_ **trying hard not to stray into the realm of the melodramatic. Comments? Concerns? Tell me what you think!**

 **Until next time :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Hi, everyone! I was stuck on how to write this chapter for a while. I actually have the next few chapters 'mapped out' so to speak, but it's a bit hard to fill in all of the details and reach a word count that I am satisfied with.

Anyway, I'm sorry that this chapter is a lot shorter than the ones I have posted previously, but I figured that it would be better to break this up into smaller, individual chapters that I am actually satisfied with instead of struggling to make one big cohesive chapter.

Enjoy! :)

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Anything directly related to the Naruto manga/anime (all characters, backstories, settings, etc.) belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

 **It Started With a Tomato**

 **Chapter Five**

Sasuke let out a deep sigh and glanced at the young woman who was walking—quite haphazardly, at that—next to him.

When he had planned to walk Konoko back to her house, he didn't consider that possibility that it would take _forever_ —she could barely hold herself upright

Konoko was currently walking with her gaze focused intently on the ground in front of her. One foot followed carefully after the other and her brows were furrowed in concentration.

Well at least she had stopped complaining (it had been grating on his nerves for the past ten minutes, but Sasuke had endured it in silence). Konoko had finally taken her heels off after claiming that the 'evil shoes of death' were killing her feet.

Sasuke resisted the urge to ask why she had worn the impractical footwear in the first place. Now she was reduced to walking bare foot on the streets of Konoha.

Ridiculous.

He had reluctantly asked her if she wanted him to 'carry her or whatever' (yes, those were his exact words), but she simply glared and told him 'don't even think about it.'

"Oi," Sasuke said in exasperation, as the girl teetered dangerously to the side. He reached out and steadied her with his hands.

Konoko briefly grabbed onto Sasuke's arm for support in order to regain her balance. She wrinkled her nose.

"This sucks."

Sasuke remained silent.

Konoko read his silence as displeasure and peered up at him with pursed lips. "Kami, Sasuke. I'm trying, but it's kind of hard to walk straight at the moment, you know?"

"Well, whose fault is that?"

"Hey, you're the one who offered to help me!"

"Yes, but you only accepted a small part of the offer." He smirked. "I think I'm doing a pretty good job all things considered."

"…"

"And aren't _you_ the one who once said that 'I can take care of myself'?"

"…"

"I don't see that happening right now."

Konoko mumbled a few obscenities.

Sasuke gave a quirked brow in response.

"Sasuke," Konoko drawled as she leaned her face towards his.

Sasuke leaned away in slight apprehension.

"You're right. You're such a nice person," she said with a sickening grin. Konoko's face adopted a deadpanned expression. "There. Are you happy now?"

Sasuke stared at her blankly.

"…no reaction," Konoko said, displeased. "You're no fun."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and grunted. "Just keep your eyes ahead of you unless you want to fall on your face."

Konoko tilted her chip upwards. "How rude," she pointed out airily.

Sasuke snorted. "Even my so called 'niceness' has a limit."

"Even for me?"

Sasuke slid his gaze over to Konoko, not really sure what to make of her little remark. When he saw that her attention was focused back on the road in front of her, he figured that she had made it offhandedly.

He wouldn't read too much into it.

The banter that he exchanged with Konoko would usually be out of character for him, but it came easily when he was with her.

Considering the fact that Naruto was the only other person who Sasuke could interact freely with in a similar way, Sasuke began to come to the realization that maybe he _did_ consider Konoko to be a close friend after all.

Sasuke would admit that this caught him by surprise.

Never in all of his life did he feel so comfortable in a female's presence before (this is, of course, if he excluded his mother).

He had always been a bit wary around Sakura. Even though she was his teammate and he began to trust her to watch his back, the blind devotion that she showed towards him—devotion that was there before she even really got to know him, for Kami's sake—unnerved him.

The same could be said for Karin.

Karin…

…was like Sakura in a way. Sasuke had trusted her skills enough to ask her to join Team Taka to help him hunt down his brother.

He _needed_ her skills.

Later, although Sasuke never voiced it out loud, Sasuke began to feel guilty that he used Karin's love for him for his own gain.

He also tried to kill her.

And if it weren't for Sakura, Karin would be dead.

And like Sakura, Karin had forgiven him.

But she had also jumped at the opportunity to leave the village with Suigetsu and Juugo (Tsunade had allowed them quite a bit of freedom outside of the village as long as they promised to work for Konoha) the first chance that she got.

Sasuke didn't blame her.

With Konoko on the other hand…

…with Konoko, it was like Sasuke didn't have the sins of his past weighing him down.

Yes, she had heard of the things that he had done, but she wasn't a shinobi—she didn't have to experience the brutality of this world first hand.

But Sasuke was by no means, an idiot. He knew that ignorance was certainly _not_ bliss. The cover up of the real events surrounding the Uchiha massacre had taught him that.

It wasn't Konoko's supposed 'ignorance' of the shinobi world that was refreshing. It was the lack of suspicion and distrust that he sensed in her eyes when she regarded him.

Despite the stories—despite the rumors—Konoko was willing to give him an honest to God chance.

And it wasn't in terms of his service to the village.

It wasn't in terms of his eyes or his abilities.

It was just him as a person.

When was the last time that Sasuke could just be Sasuke?

Not Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother.

Not Sasuke, the last Uchiha.

Not Sasuke, the avenger.

But Sasuke: a young man who loved tomatoes and was actually quite caring although he didn't always show it.

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted when he noticed that Konoko had stopped walking rather abruptly.

"Konoko—" Sasuke began, but his words were halted when he observed that Konoko's face had adopted a rather queasy expression.

' _Shit,'_ Sasuke thought with a grimace.

Dropping her heels to the ground, Konoko doubled over while holding her stomach. The sounds of coughing and vomit hitting the pavement filled the air. With his fast reflexes, Sasuke was able to grab Konoko's ponytail so that her hair wouldn't get caught up in the mess.

He may have been a stoic bastard, but his mother _had_ taught him manners.

When her heaving subsided, Sasuke began helping her up from her hunched position, but was soon forced to support the full weight of her body as it collapsed against him.

Letting out another sigh, Sasuke lifted Konoko's unconscious form up in his arms. His right arm supported her shoulders so that her head was rested gently against his chest. His left arm was looped under her knees which allowed her legs to dangle carelessly in the air.

With the new turn of events, Sasuke figured that it probably wasn't the best idea to drop Konoko off at her house and let her stay there alone (after all, he didn't want her choking on her own vomit).

He decided to head to his apartment.

He didn't mind letting Konoko use his bed for the night.

He could sleep on the couch (that he rarely used).

Since he couldn't shunshin there—that would just be cruel, especially in the state that Konoko was in at the moment—he decided that his best bet would be to take to the rooftops.

It certainly was a peculiar sight to see: Sasuke Uchiha, dressed in his usual get up, was carrying a curly-haired civilian with something akin to care.

If this didn't get the rumors going, he didn't know what would.

Wearing a resigned expression on his face, Sasuke pumped chakra to his feet and began carrying his charge to his place of residence, but not before bending down to pick up Konoko's heels.

Sasuke didn't think that she would appreciate it if he were to leave them there.

Sasuke could admit that this wasn't exactly how he expected his night to go.

' _But yet again,'_ Sasuke thought with a slight smirk, _'nothing with Konoko is ever expected.'_


	6. Chapter 6

I wanted to thank all of you who have reviewed, favorited, or followed this story so far. Your feedback really means a lot. Constructive criticism is always welcome!

Now, without further ado...

Enjoy! :)

* * *

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Anything directly related to the Naruto manga/anime (all characters, backstories, settings, etc.) belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

 **It Started With a Tomato**

 **Chapter Six**

Konoko woke up the next morning to find herself entangled in extremely soft, white sheets. Still in a complete daze from her slumber, she began to sit up, but stopped herself when she was met with a throbbing pain in her head. Letting out a loud groan, Konoko shut her eyes and brought her hands up to massage her aching temples—she hoped that the gentle, circular motions would help alleviate the unwelcome pressure that she was feeling.

When some of the pain subsided, Konoko reopened her eyes but cursed violently when she was forced to close them yet again—some light that had drifted in from the window off to her left had invaded her vision. She flopped back onto the comfortable mattress rather inelegantly and threw her arms over her eyes in an attempt to block the offensive rays.

Konoko cautiously peered from underneath her crossed limbs. When she was certain that it was safe (and that she wouldn't be blinded anytime soon), she removed her arms and let them spread out on the bed beside her. She blearily blinked up at the ceiling before letting her eyes roam lazily across the rest of the room.

She remained that way for a grand total of five minutes before something began nagging at the back of her mind.

Konoko looked down at the sheets that she was laying on in confusion.

First of all: her sheets were blue.

These sheets were white.

She let her gaze travel over to the window.

Second of all: her window was off to the right side of her bed.

This window was off to the left.

Third of all: she _always_ made sure that her curtains were closed for when she woke up in the morning.

Low and behold, these curtains were drawn and were letting that godforsaken sunlight stream into the room.

This wasn't her bed.

This wasn't her _room._

Konoko sat up quickly, but clutched her head with a snake-like hiss when it made the pain worse. Grumbling at her headache, Konoko tried to break through her hangover woes in order to examine the situation more thoroughly.

What did she do last night?

Konoko remembered that Mitsuni had dragged her out to some bar against her will and went off to seduce some guy that had been staring her down the moment that she walked through the door.

She also remembered that some creep tried (and failed) to pick her up.

And shortly after that, she ran into Sasuke (or rather, he ran into her).

…Her annoyance when she found out that Mitsuni had abandoned her (she would make her pay later).

…Yelling at Sasuke

And then…

Then…

Konoko hesitantly looked down at her state of dress.

She sighed in relief when she discovered that, although sans heels, she was still wearing the outfit that she had on the night before.

Good.

She hadn't been _completely_ reckless.

She lifted her hand up to scratch the back of her head, and grimaced when she encountered quite a few tangles in her hair.

She probably looked like shit.

As Konoko became more coherent, she became increasingly aware of her surroundings. She assumed that one of the doors off to the right must have led to a bathroom because she vaguely heard the sound of the water cutting off.

Not long after, the door swung open and out came the last person that Konoko remembered seeing from the night before.

Konoko tensed.

Sasuke halted his movements in mild surprise when he saw that Konoko was staring at him like a deer caught in headlights. He had been in the middle of running a small, dark blue towel through his hair. He wore no shirt to hide his defined abs and his baggy, gray sweatpants hung dangerously low on his hips.

Konoko found herself swallowing in discomfort and quickly averted her gaze from the half-naked man.

"Ah…Sasuke," Konoko managed to croak out.

She grimaced when she realized that her voice sounded rather unattractive.

She could definitely use a glass of water.

Her discomfort must have been obvious because Sasuke easily recovered from his mild surprise at seeing Konoko awake and sauntered over to his brown dresser. Pulling open one of the top drawers, he quickly scanned the materials inside and pulled out a dark, gray T-shirt. He tossed the small, blue towel on a nearby chair (why hadn't Konoko noticed that desk earlier?) and glided the shirt over his head. From her position on the bed, Konoko could see the traces of the infamous red and white Uchiha clan symbol—a fan— on his back.

Once he was finished, he turned around and met Konoko's gaze easily with his own.

A few moments passed and neither of them said a word.

Well…

This was certainly awkward.

"…nothing happened."

Lost in a stupor, Sasuke's words barely registered in Konoko's mind.

"Huh?" she asked dumbly.

"We didn't—" he cleared his throat and shifted his gaze.

Wait.

Was he actually embarrassed?

"— _do_ anything, if that's what you're worried about."

He received a blank look in return.

"So you can stop panicking."

Konoko gave him a look of disbelief.

"Of course we didn't do anything. Why would I think otherwise?"

Sasuke responded by giving her an unimpressed look of his own.

"Naivety doesn't suit you."

A raised brow.

"You wake up in a man's apartment—in his _bed_ no less—and that's your reaction?" he asked incredulously.

"No," she simply stated. "I can assure you that I'm losing my shit on the inside, but—" she gave a small yawn. "—it's just too early to be dealing with this right now."

"It's nine o'clock."

"So? It's Saturday and I'm not a ninja. Early."

He snorted.

Konoko decided to ignore it and settled for letting her eyes roam Sasuke's room once more.

"So this is your room, huh?"

Sasuke didn't respond.

It was expected.

"It's so…" Konoko trailed off while trying to grasp the right word. "…plain."

And plain it was.

Other than the towel that Sasuke had thrown on the desk chair that sat in the corner of the room, nothing was out of place.

Besides the books that were placed neatly on a nearby shelf and a few weapons that were displayed on the walls, there was no character.

It was a stark contrast to what her own room looked like.

"It would look nice with some paint," Konoko concluded.

"No."

"I just meant that a little—"

"No."

Konoko frowned. "Stop that."

"You're not the first person to try and decorate my apartment. Naruto and Sakura—" his lips curled in distaste, "—already got their hands on my living room." He gave a small, determined shake of his head. "No. This room is staying _exactly_ the way it is."

Konoko looked like she wanted to argue further, but settled for pursing her lips.

"Fine."

Sasuke nodded his head in satisfaction. He then gave her another look over which made Konoko shift subconsciously.

"You're a mess," he said smartly.

Konoko _really_ felt like throwing something at him for stating the obvious.

Sasuke smirked when he detected the annoyance that crossed her features.

"The bathroom is through there," he said as he tilted his head towards the door in question. He began walking towards another door that Konoko assumed led into the living room and kitchen area. "I left some clothes out for you by the sink," he said. He paused by the door frame and looked over his shoulder at her disgruntled expression. "That is unless you want to leave my apartment looking like that?"

Konoko felt her cheeks go red in embarrassment.

No.

She definitely didn't want that.

Smirking once more, Sasuke was about to walk into the hallway, but a small voice laced with genuine gratitude gave him a pause.

"Thank you."


	7. Chapter 7

This update is long overdue. I guess you can say that college has been keeping me busy. However, this story _will not_ be abandoned and I'll try to get updates out more quickly. So without further ado...

Enjoy! :)

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Anything directly related to the Naruto manga/anime (all characters, backstories, settings, etc.) belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

 **It Started With a Tomato**

 **Chapter Seven**

After Sasuke left, Konoko quickly scrambled from the bed, but not before getting tangled in the sheets and tumbling to the hardwood floor below.

Konoko lay sprawled out on the floor and marveled at how much the universe seemed to hate her this morning, but after giving herself a few seconds of much deserved self-pity, she pushed herself to her feet and dragged herself to the bathroom.

When she reached the door that Sasuke had indicated, Konoko turned the knob, revealing the bathroom.

A small tick appeared above her brow.

Sasuke's bathroom was very modern (and obviously expensive) and similar to the state of his bedroom, it was spotless.

As she inspected the shower, the tub, and the floor (while trying to ignore the neatly folded pile of clothes that were sitting not so innocently on the counter), she came to a bit of a conclusion.

Sasuke had to be some kind of neat freak.

He couldn't be afraid of germs though. Konoko couldn't imagine that his ninja career would have lasted this long if that was the case.

While peeking through the cabinets, Konoko imagined a mop-yielding Sasuke wearing yellow gloves and a white apron with his face set into a threatening glare to top it all off.

She smirked at the image.

Quickly shutting the cabinet as not to invade his privacy _too_ much—it was weird to imagine Sasuke shaving in the morning—Konoko reluctantly turned her attention to the _other_ object that she had been avoiding since she got into the bathroom.

The mirror.

She cracked her left eye open

And then her right. More Slowly.

Konoko gave a loud groan when she got a good look at herself.

She really did look horrible.

The sleek pony tail that she had worn the night before was practically indiscernible. Konoko figured that her hair tie must have come loose while she was sleeping because it had nearly made its way to the end of her strands, making it look like her hair had simply exploded from its constraints.

The eye make-up that Mitsuni had applied the night before had smeared, which made Konoko look like she hadn't gotten sleep in a _long_ time.

Konoko pinched her lips in displeasure.

The only bright side was that her dress was fine, although slightly wrinkled.

Not that it mattered—Konoko wasn't going on any little excursions like the one she had the night before, any time soon.

There was nothing that Konoko could do about how Sasuke saw her last night. After all, things could not be unseen (no matter how many times Konoko wished that they could).

Disliking her reflection's serious look, she stuck her tongue out (and briefly reminded herself to check for a spare tooth brush).

Plus, Sasuke didn't seem like he would hold it over her head _too_ much.

On that more positive note, Konoko grabbed two blue towels and a blue washcloth from the linen cabinet and hung them on the silver hooks that were placed adjacent to the shower. She tore off her dirty clothes and hopped into the spacious tub.

Konoko let herself relax as the warm water from the shower head dragged across her body and began looking at the different products that were lined up on the side of the shower curiously. When she picked up the light green bottle that was labeled 'body wash', Konoko was disappointed to find out that it was scentless.

Although this made sense considering the fact that ninja who wore scents could easily be tracked down (so it was highly discouraged and basically dubbed 'just asking for a painful death'), Konoko rather liked it when her hair smelled like vanilla.

 _'But Kami forbid that Sasuke allowed himself be caught smelling like that,'_ Konoko thought with a roll of her eyes.

Konoko got to work with lathering up her body with the body wash and paid special attention to her face in order to make sure that her make-up was wiped off well. When that was rinsed off, she got to work on her hair. She vigorously scrubbed her hair and scalp with the shampoo and watched with a somewhat odd satisfaction as the suds made their way down the shower drain.

Now that her hair was squeaky clean (almost to the point of being as stiff as a board), Konoko grabbed the bottle of conditioner and applied an ample amount to her hair. Now that her hair was thoroughly saturated, she let her fingers act as a comb—quickly running them through her strands, although having to slow down when she was faced with a section that was particularly tangled.

With her hair and body both clean and any traces of the night before gone from her face, Konoko wrung her hair with her hands. Then, she reached out her arm and snatched one of the blue towels off of its hook. She began drying herself off with it so that she wouldn't drip water all over Sasuke's bathroom floor (the preventative measure should avoid the inevitable argument that would ensue). Once she was completely dried off, she wrapped the towel around herself snugly and tucked one of the ends in to secure it in place. She took the other towel and wrapped it around her head, allowing the soft material to soak up the excess moisture from her hair.

As she stepped out of the shower, Konoko's eyes zoned in on the clothes that were sitting on the bathroom counter. Walking over to the neat pile, Konoko scrutinized each article of clothing with a slight frown. It was fairly simple: a pair of black, drawstring shorts that were too big for her, and a dark, grey shirt that was also too big for her.

However, it wasn't the size of the clothes that made Konoko look at them skeptically. Rather, it was the insignia on the back of the shirt that made her think twice about parading around outside in such attire.

What would people think if they saw her wearing the Uchiha crest?

Sasuke certainly did not seem like a person who would so willingly share his clothing with even the closest of 'friends,' so Konoko knew that, without a doubt, she would get some rather implicating looks.

For a moment Konoko wondered if this was Sasuke's plan all along, but she was quick to squash that ridiculous notion.

Although she had been rather disorientated when she first woke up that morning, the events of last night had slowly come back to her.

Konoko remembered Sasuke's sincere apology towards her and how she had forgiven him.

She knew that he was regretful of his thoughtless actions towards her and that they both had a mutual understanding that they were to start anew.

Konoko did not disagree with this plan at all. The whole ordeal had become rather stressful and annoying.

She was grateful that Sasuke had felt the same.

With a small sigh, Konoko held up the shirt in front of her and examined it lazily.

Therefore, Konoko had to deduce that Sasuke _only_ had shirts that carried his family's crest on them.

In other words: this was as good as it was going to get.

She would just have to face the ramifications later.

She was _not_ looking forward to this.

* * *

As Konoko prepared to creep out of the bedroom with her dirty clothes and towel in hand, she paused at the sight of two picture frames that were sitting innocently on the far end of Sasuke's night stand. Curious, despite the interesting aroma that was wafting in from the kitchen, Konoko patted her growling stomach once in apology and went on to investigate.

She knew that she was being rather nosy this morning, but it couldn't be helped.

Sasuke was a very private person and although he had shared a bit of his personal life with her (which was still surprising to this day), there was a lot that she didn't know about him.

Besides, who knew when this opportunity would present itself again?

Now standing before the brown piece of furniture, Konoko bent down and put her hands on her knees so that her eyes were level with the two scenes that captured the most important people who had been, or were currently, in Sasuke's life.

The first picture was of team seven, in their genin days.

They looked _so_ young.

On the left was Sasuke, who looked somewhere off camera to the right with an expression that basically oozed with 'I don't want to be here.'

In the middle was Sakura-san, who was smiling with utter joy.

On the right was Naruto-san. He was looking over at Sasuke and was clearly annoyed with boy's attitude.

And hovering over all three of them was Kakashi-san. His hands were placed on Naruto and Sasuke's heads in an effort to placate them. His smile appeared strained.

Konoko had to grin at how cute they all looked.

As she finished analyzing the first picture, she switched her gaze over to the picture on the right that was in a black frame as well.

As she looked it over, she furrowed her brows and felt a frown make its way to her face.

This picture…

Konoko found herself kneeling unconsciously.

On the left stood a rather stern looking man with short, black hair with bangs that fell at the corners of his eyes. He wore a dark-blue kimono that had a white trim with blue dots. His obi was grey.

Konoko glanced at the women who was standing to the right of the stern man and quickly noticed the gentle expression that donned her face. Her long, black hair was out and spilled down her back as a few shorter stands framed her face. Her skin was quite fair (the man had a slightly darker skin tone) and she wore a dark purple, long-sleeved blouse underneath an apron that was faintly yellow.

There were no doubts in Konoko's mind of the identity of the little boy that stood in between them.

Sasuke wore a small smile as the woman's arms were placed lovingly on his shoulders.

He wore a dark gray, high collared shirt not unlike the ones that he wore now. Deceptively neat bangs did nothing to hide the spikiness of his black hair.

And the older boy on the far right…

He was not as pale as the other two, but where his coloring was from his father, his looks were definitely from that of his mother.

The prominent creases under his eyes spoke volumes about the tremendous stress and pressure that he was under—a burden that someone is age should never have to carry.

'… _Itachi…'_

As Konoko took in the whole picture—the stern man, the kind woman, the innocent boy (and the burdened one)—she felt a twinge of sadness for what had been lost.

Feeling compelled to do _something,_ she said a small prayer for the deceased and hoped that they had been able to find peace.

Konoko quickly wiped a few tears that had escaped from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand.

She rose from her knelt position and hesitated before giving a small bow in respect.

She could not stop the shiver that went through her body when she could have sworn that a hand had brushed across her shoulder.

She tore her eyes away from the photo and walked stiffly to the door.

Her stomach growled, and she welcomed it as it diverted her attention from the strange, yet comforting sensation that she had experienced.

* * *

Once Konoko exited the bedroom, she was met with a rather unpleasant smell.

She wrinkled her nose.

Something was burning.

Curious as to what in Kami's name Sasuke was doing, she quickened her pace down the small hallway and entered an open area that contained the living room and kitchen.

Konoko didn't even get a chance to give the room a proper look over when a sharp, but quiet, curse stole her attention.

"Damn it!"

Konoko blinked at the sight before her.

Konoko took note of Sasuke's put out expression and padded over to the steel pot (whose bottom had turned an alarming shade of black) that he was hovering over. She slid next to him and peered inside.

"What's that?"

Sasuke sighed.

"…the name escapes me."

Konoko's mouth twitched. "I'm not sure if we should eat this."

"…it's fine," Sasuke argued stubbornly.

Konoko gave him a pointed look and took the ladle from his hand. She attempted to stir the thick mass and noted that most of it was stuck to the bottom in a hardened glob.

Now Konoko didn't know _what_ recipe he had been trying to make, but she was pretty sure that it wasn't supposed to look _or_ behave like that.

"You're right," Konoko deadpanned, "it's completely edible." She lifted the ladle towards Sasuke's face and took pleasure in how he eyed it distrustfully. "You try it first."

Konoko didn't miss how Sasuke recoiled from the threatening object. Konoko responded to his retreat by pushing it closer towards him.

"I made it for you, so you should try it first," Sasuke averted.

"Not a chance," she outright refused.

He scoffed. "Whatever."

Konoko paused for a second in thought.

"Sasuke, you didn't have to make me breakfast."

Well, at least he had _tried_ to make her breakfast.

"I figured that your stomach would be empty by now," Sasuke said as the beginnings of a smirk began to grace his lips, "considering how you vomited all over the streets last night."

Konoko felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment.

"I did _not_ vomit all over the streets," she said, annoyed. "You're exaggerating."

She only threw up once!

The substance in the pot made a suspicious popping noise.

It was Konoko who smirked this time.

"…I'm not the best cook." Sasuke offered, albeit reluctantly.

"I can see that."

"…"

Konoko turned towards Sasuke with a quizzical expression on her face.

"What do you normally eat then?" she inquired as she leaned against one of the counters. "Because I sure hope that it's not that," Konoko said in reference to Sasuke's little concoction.

"Take out," he answered with a small shrug.

Konoko gave him a look of disapproval.

Sasuke gave her a measured look of his own.

When Sasuke didn't let up, Konoko sighed. "You can't live off of takeout."

Sasuke snorted. "Well I can't live off of my own cooking."

"You could if you—I don't know _—learned_.

"Hm."

It was honestly pathetic for a grown man of his caliber (she could not help but wonder if this was common for ninja and if it was, Konoko was seriously going to start worrying about the safety of the village), but if Konoko were to tell Sasuke this, the insult would either motivate him to cook or create a complex, and with Sasuke's personality, who knew how long _that_ would take to fix.

Konoko threw caution out of the window and blurted it out anyway.

"What?" Sasuke asked, annoyed.

Konoko glanced at him in exasperation. "Can you make anything? Like at all?"

Sasuke stared at her in the way that let her know that he still wasn't happy about her little jab before responding shortly. "Onigiri."

Onigiri.

Rice balls.

Konoko smiled in an exaggerated fashion and clapped her together once. "Great. Looks like I'll be giving cooking lessons today." She made her way to Sasuke's refrigerator, pulled the doors opened, and felt the cool air trail over her skin.

Her eyes widened in disbelief at the lack of food.

She peered over her shoulder at him doubtfully. "Do you have any meat?"

"…Hm."

So that was a no then.

"What about vegetables?"

"…."

She peered into one of the bins and saw a crate of eggs that were still fresh.

"What about rice?"

"…"

Konoko felt her eye twitch. "Noodles?"

Sasuke, who had been watching her antics in a somewhat detached manner, responded easily. "Ramen."

"Really?" She was surprised.

"…it was a gift from Naruto."

"Well, tell him 'thank you' when you get a chance because we now have ingredients to make a half decent meal," Konoko declared. "Sort of," she added as an afterthought.

After Konoko asked Sasuke to get a few packets of ramen (which he pulled from the dark place that they were hidden), she set the carton of eggs on the counter and rummaged the cabinets for the rest of the ingredients that she would need.

She started humming a cheerful tune and began slipping into her own little world, so she was slightly started when Sasuke broke his silence.

"Is this your way of trying to get me to cook?"

"You don't sound too surprised," she remarked.

Sasuke gave a slight shrug. "It was obvious."

"Well it worked, didn't it?" She asked casually. "Can you crack four of those eggs and mix them please?"

Sasuke complied.

It continued like this for a while with Konoko giving out instructions and Sasuke following them silently.

"Can you add a few drops of water to that pan? If it starts to sizzle, then you can pour the eggs in."

"Make sure that it doesn't burn."

"Don't add too much water, they'll get soggy!"

Sasuke added a few glares in for good measure.

She _was_ enjoying this a bit too much.

Sasuke couldn't mask his curiosity when he saw Konoko pouring out all of the broth from the ramen.

"What?" Konoko asked defensively. "I like eating it like this sometimes."

The end result was two plates of noodles topped with eggs.

Konoko was about to carry the two plates to the table, but Sasuke stopped her.

"I got it."

Konoko didn't raise any protests. Instead, she walked over to the kitchen table and sat down with her hands folded neatly in her lap. She watched as Sasuke placed her food in front of her somewhat awkwardly. He then went to the other side of the small table, placed his plate down, and took his seat across from her.

In an effort to lighten the mood, Konoko cheerfully said 'itadakimasu,' before helping herself to her food.

Sasuke followed not too long after.

While eating, Konoko let her eyes wander around the room and noticed that it was actually nicely decorated. The way that Sasuke put it earlier had made it sound like his two teammates had made it look like a disaster.

She just assumed that he could be a bit touchy about his personal space.

Sasuke decided to fill her in.

"Naruto screwed it up," he said with a frown. "Sakura helped me fix it."

Ah.

So that's how it was.

It made Konoko wonder about how it must have looked before.

"The walls were orange," Sasuke said.

The rest of their meal was spent with Sasuke retelling the story in an exasperated, yet fond, tone, as Konoko listened to him, amused.

It was nice.


End file.
